Our Craft and Materials
It all starts with the material
Three materials, designed for you
Natural fibres, soft leathers, the occasional surprise we didn't expect to fall for. On their own, they're already beautiful. But it's what happens next, in the hands of our artisans that turns them into something you won't find anywhere else.
Full grain leather
You asked for more leather. So we gave it a craft of its own.
Full-grain leather, cut into strips and braided entirely by hand - a slow, precise process that gives the bag its structure without a rigid frame. It takes a patina rather than wear, and it will look more beautiful the longer you carry it.
Mendong
You asked us for something lighter. It took us a while to find, but we finally got there.
Mendong is a grass that grows fast in the wetlands of Indonesia. It's cut, soaked for weeks until it softens, dried, and then woven by families who have worked it for generations.
We run full-grain leather through the weave. The grass keeps it feather-light, the leather holds its shape. Soft to the touch, with a quiet lustre, and made for ordinary days rather than one occasion.
Rattan
What you have always known us for.
Rattan grows along vines in the Indonesian rainforest, taking years to mature before it's harvested by hand. Because it's a fast-growing, renewable vine, no trees are ever cut down to make it.
The outer layer is stripped, the cane split to the right thickness, dried under the sun, and then woven into the shapes that made us.
Then comes the weave
Once we've found a material we know we can weave, the search turns to the technique, through weaves that go back generations, passed down and perfected over time, until we find the one that suits it best. Then it's woven entirely by hand: hours of slow, patient work, row by row, and a skill you can't fake.
The women who weave for us have been doing this their whole lives. It's the same craft, and the same independence, that Mama found in her own weaving, a living made by hand, on her own terms. That independence is woven into every bag we make.
Shop your material
Woven Leather
Full-grain leather, braided by hand. Supple enough to weave, sturdy enough to hold its shape, and gets more beautiful the longer you carry it.
Mendong
A soft, straw-like fibre woven through with full-grain leather. The mendong keeps it feather-light, the leather keeps its shape, and it lasts for years
Rattan
The weave that inspired it all. Rattan grows wild in the Indonesian rainforest, harvested and woven by hand - a renewable vine, so no trees are felled.