Rafia
Rafia is a tough and coarse fiber used for bags, hats, chairs and other homewear items
Rafia is a vegetable textile fiber that is obtained from the maceration and subsequent processing of palm leaves from tropical regions. It is obtained from a large and tall stem, from whose leaves a coarse fiber is obtained, used both to make ropes and other accessories such as belts, chairs and vases.
Ecru in color with straw yellow hues, it has a robust but not too rough consistency. It has a maximum length of about 1.5 m and an irregular width. In fact, when it comes on spools or in skeins longer than a meter and a half and of regular width, it is not really rafia, but is produced from a plastic material. The first company in the world to design and build plants for the production of polypropylene rafia was the COVEMA of Milan founded by the brothers Dino and Marco Terragni. Thanks to some particular processes, if treated it has taken on a shiny, rigid, light and resistant appearance.
