African Experience

The shop, Rafiki, (which means 'friend' in Swahili) evolved from a love of the vibrant African culture and the fun, happy attitude of its people.

Rafiki is owned and operated by Andrew Laidlaw who has travelled extensively across Africa. Since 1989, Andrew has visited over 20 countries in Africa gaining first hand knowledge of the people and communities who create the work. So, finding out more about Rafiki craft and products is as simple as dropping in and having a chat.

Rafiki also makes an effort to keep current information on African performances and events going on in Melbourne which means you can usually call in and pick up flyers on everything from drumming workshops with Ray Pereira to touring international acts and if you have an African event you would like to promote, let us know and we'll try to help.

For more information, visit our What's On page.