The first half of 2026 has been defined by travel!
From welcoming industry professionals from Zambia to Cape Town, to taking architects and designers behind the scenes of our Italian partner brands and local manufacturing businesses, the year has already created opportunities to strengthen relationships, deepen understanding and expand the reach of The Excellence Group.
Alongside these experiences, we were honoured to receive Business Enterprise of the Year at the 2026 Italian-South African Chamber of Trade and Industries Business Excellence Awards, while continued investment across the group has positioned businesses such as Craft Furniture for an exciting new chapter of growth.
Here is a look at some of the moments that have shaped the year so far.
Zambia Inbound Tour
In March, The Excellence Group welcomed 17 architects, interior designers and industry professionals from Zambia for a three-day visit to Cape Town – the first time a group of this scale has made the journey south to experience TEG in person.
At the heart of the visit was the TEG Tour itself: a full-day immersion that begins with coffee at Eurocasa and an introduction from our CEO Richard Lurie and ends with champagne and conversation. In between, guests moved through the full collective from the factory floors of Spotlight Joinery, Craft Furniture, Infin8 Surfacing and Continua, through to our showrooms for Eurocasa, Poliform, Valcucine, and Lualdi.
What makes the tour so valuable is what no brochure or presentation can replicate. Guests watched dry-fit assemblies being checked on the Spotlight Joinery factory floor before a single carcass leaves for site. They handled materials, observed finishing processes and stood alongside state-of-the-art equipment encountering, in practical terms, what our collective is actually capable of.
For the Zambian contingent, the visit offered something rarer still: a direct understanding of what it means to work with our collective. For TEG, it was an opportunity to build the kind of relationships that extend well beyond a single project or inquiry and a reminder of why showing, rather than telling, remains the most powerful thing we do.
Northern Italy Tour
Each year, The Excellence Group takes a select group of our professional clients behind the scenes at the European factories and ateliers whose work defines the TEG offering. This year, 15 guests joined our Group CEO and directors from Poliform Cape Town, Valcucine Cape Town, Eurocasa Cape Town and soon-to-be-opening Aqua Atelier on an itinerary that spanned Colombini, Valcucine, Poliform, Agape, Gessi and Lualdi.
The standout addition to this year’s programme – and a first for this tour – was the inclusion of Agape and Gessi. With the upcoming launch of Aqua Atelier later this Spring, introducing our guests to the thinking, craft and people behind these two world-leading sanitaryware brands felt
timely. Seeing a showroom collection is one thing; standing in the space where it was conceived and made is something else entirely.
That, really, is what the Italy tour is for. Not to specify, but to show. To educate the architects and designers a richer, more textured understanding of the brands they love and, in turn, a stronger foundation for the conversations we have back home. The relationships built or deepened on a trip like this tend to outlast any single project.
For TEG, it also reflects something we believe about our position in the South African market: that our role is not simply to supply, but to connect local professionals with global excellence, and global makers with the African projects worthy of their craft.
Business of the Year – and What Comes Next
Earlier this quarter, the leadership team at The Excellence Group gathered in Johannesburg to accept the Business Enterprise of the Year award at the 2026 Italian-South African Chamber of Trade and Industries Business Excellence Awards.
In under eight years, what started as a small entrepreneurial idea has become a collective of more than 230 people, with projects across eight African countries and some of the world’s most respected luxury interior brands represented under one roof. The award acknowledges that growth, but what it really validates is the model. That independent businesses, each with their own identity and expertise, can work together as a true collective and deliver something greater than the sum of their parts.
Excellence, for us, has always been a pursuit rather than a destination. It’s the standard we hold ourselves to, and the question we keep asking. This award does not change that. If anything, it sharpens it.
The next chapter is already taking shape. Aqua Atelier and YARDCOM’s new showrooms are currently under development, bringing world-leading sanitaryware and premium outdoor living brands into the collective. When they open later this year, they will take their place on the TEG Tour and the story will have a few new rooms to tell. These businesses are already open for business and are looking forward to expanding their network.
Craft Furniture: A New Chapter
Quality is often judged by the finished piece, but in reality it begins long before furniture reaches a client’s space. It is shaped by the conversations that define a brief, the decisions made throughout a project and the people responsible for bringing an idea to life.
Over the past year, Craft Furniture has placed renewed focus on quality across every aspect of the business. Alongside continued investment in our design and manufacturing capabilities, significant attention has been given to strengthening processes, developing people and creating greater consistency throughout the customer experience.
For us, quality is not the responsibility of a single department. It is the collective responsibility of every individual involved in a project. From the initial client engagement through to design, manufacturing, finishing and delivery, each stage contributes to the final outcome.
This commitment was recently demonstrated through one of Craft’s largest custom furniture projects to date. Designed, manufactured and delivered entirely in house, the project required close collaboration between multiple teams and a shared commitment to achieving the highest possible standard.
As demand for custom furniture continues to grow, Craft Furniture remains focused on refining what we do best: creating thoughtfully designed furniture through skilled craftsmanship, precision manufacturing and an uncompromising commitment to quality.
Looking forward
While each of these stories are different, they share something in common: a commitment to building meaningful relationships and continually raising the standard of what is possible.
As we move through the remainder of 2026, that commitment remains unchanged. We look forward to sharing more of the people, projects and partnerships shaping the future of The Excellence Group.
