Raphia
Raphia develops shoes and loves natural materials. Founder Said Belhadj lives and works from Utrecht, where he is co-owner of the young designer shop Puha, but travels regularly to Morocco. The country where his parents are from. Here he works together with local craftsmen and women on the development of a shoe made from completely natural products: dried palm leaves of the Raphia taedigera, a palm tree that grows mainly in tropical Africa, soles of natural rubber or leather, and natural pigment such as madder, walnut shells, onion skins and indigo. Raphia combines these natural products with traditional techniques and design.