Muuñ

Muuñ began in 2004, when Audrey David traveled to West Africa and the idea took root in Nyariga, a small town in northern Ghana. There she met Tahiru, a craftsman skilled in traditional straw weaving, who asked her to help bring his baskets to a wider market. That meeting grew into a lasting cooperative, and the raffia here is still handwoven in Ghana before leather or cotton trim is added in workshops near Saumur, France. Scandinavian design and Japanese minimalism shaped the shapes built on top of that craft, which is part of why the totes read pared down rather than folkloric.

The range shows how much the trim changes a bag. The Cotton-trimmed raffia tote keeps the weave plain against a simple strap, while the Nina leather-trimmed raffia shoulder bag adds real structure at the handle. The Sophia mini leather and cotton-trimmed raffia top-handle bag splits the difference, small enough for a top-handle grip but still carrying both materials at once.

Muuñ is not for anyone who wants a bag that looks the same wet as dry, since raffia shows weather and use in a way a coated canvas bag never will. It rewards someone who likes visible craft, the kind of texture that tells you a person wove it by hand in Nyariga rather than a machine stamping it flat. I would start with one of the mid-size totes, something like the Chantelle or the Signora, before trying a smaller top-handle shape, because the larger totes earn their keep as an everyday bag while the minis read more like an occasional accessory. Skip it entirely if daily rain is a given. Let the leather trim darken and the raffia loosen with wear, and it starts to look more like a person's own bag than a shop's display piece.