Raffia

Today I’d like to talk about the Raffia. this noble material who is widely used throughout the world : It is used in twine, rope, baskets, placemats, hats, shoes, and textile. Of course you know 😉 This article will be devoted to tell the story of this material that I especially love & and I will speak to you about our bag collection Karmen & Marius made ​​with Raffia. Enjoy you reading !

The raffia tree belongs to the Palm family of trees. It can be found in abundance in countries as variedas Central Africa, Central America and in Asian countries alikefor example in the Phillipines and Indonesia. It has many uses in our daily lives ranging from ropes, decorative mats, shoes, bags, and hats; and prevalent also in the textile and contruction industries.

But it is here in Bali where we can find the Raffia leaf in all its splendour, immersed as part of the decorative daily offerings of the balinese tradition; found on the ground of street fronts to the façade of houses, hotels and hanging decoratively from cars to ceilings alike.

It is here where inspiration for its use as part of our line up of raffia bags come to being.

The fibrous leaf, referred to as the membrane, is found in the underside of each individual frond leaf, large and fanlike. The frond needs to be then delicately sliced to obtain the membrane fibre; which is a transparent soft material central in creating our Karmen & Marius Raffia bag collection. If the inner frond is not the one located closest to the mother branch then we cannot guarantee the softness of our products. Hence because of this, limitation in quantity and quality of our handmade products, you will always find inconsistencies to a varying degree. It is this membrane leaf that is then dyed and woven to produce our beautiful handmade raffia bags.

Thank you for reading and see you soon for another article.

Peace, Love & Mojitos !

Fashion