All about Raphia from IBELIV

RAFFIA, A NATURAL TREASURE ...

Like a jealously guarded treasure, Madagascar raffia is a natural fiber of rare quality found in the heart of the island's unspoiled nature.

With its unique creations, IBELIV sublimates raffia fibers and turns it into an exceptional material for noble, contemporary crafts.

Madagascar is a terrestrial Eden where 80% of endemic plant and animal species flourish. The country's insularity, microclimate and topography favour the blossoming of this unique flora and fauna. It offers an incredibly rich biodiversity for the island's heritage, but also for world heritage.

Raffia is a palm known for having the longest leaves in the plant kingdom, from which raffia fibers are extracted. Like vanilla and wild pepper, with their unrivalled flavor, Madagascar raffia has unrivalled qualities of suppleness, color and strength. It's when the trees are selected from the island's most remote vegetation, access to which sometimes requires hours of walking by cart or pirogue, that the best fibers are produced. A treasure, we say...

ENDANGERED, HOWEVER

However, raffia grows in swampy areas and close to the coast, which are prime rice-growing areas. Rice growing is of great importance to the Malagasy economy. Rice is a staple food, and its cultivation guarantees both food and financial security. For the farmer, therefore, the existence of the palm tree and the rice field are mutually antagonistic. This is the main threat to the deforestation of raffia forests.

By developing the raffia industry through the creation of sustainable jobs and comfortable incomes, IBELIV reconciles the economic interests of the rural population with the sustainability of this unique natural resource. At the same time, new raffia plantations help to prevent its extinction and restore the ecosystem.

A QUEST FOR PURPOSE

The heritage of our planet, which it is our duty to protect and pass on, raffia is not only an invitation to travel, but also an incomparable awakening of the senses . Its unique fragrance and feel are a return to nature, untouched and exhilarating.

And if the sound of the wind in the branches that you hear when you plunge your hands into the raffia fibers evaporates once the fibers have been disciplined under the hook, you can still guess at their wild, ethereal nature.

All this, IBELIV creations creations offer you all this, magnifying raffia in its purest expression.

TO WEAR AN IBELIV IS TO ADORN YOURSELF WITH A PIECE OF NATURE, LIKE AN EXOTIC LUXURY WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE WORLD...