About Us
Colombian Artisan Luxury Inspired by Heritage
After living abroad for 17 years in Europe and Asia, our founder, Laura, decided to create Bomboná to share Colombian craftsmanship internationally and motivate people to discover more about Colombia.
During her time abroad she kept hearing questions and comments about violence and drugs in Colombia and she felt passionate to share the positive aspects of her country. While visiting Colombia with her Taiwanese husband they were enchanted by local craftsmanship, specially by leather crafts and noticed their quality was similar to European luxury items. Laura decided she wanted to create an artisan luxury brand to honor Colombian traditional craftsmanship whilst including some modern features and in 2022, after three years of planning and designing, Bomboná Carriel Collection was launched.
Bomboná is a brand for adventurous people who love freedom and dare to be unique and establish their own style. I want Bomboná to inspire each person to embrace who they are and to be rare, unique and special.
The History of the Carriel Bag
The Carriel is a Colombian traditional leather saddlebag from the Antioquia region and has a 200+ years’ history. It is believed that its name comes from the English word “carry-all”.
Originally, the Carriel bag was an invaluable working tool for the Colombian muleteer men (“arrieros” in Spanish) who made a living by picking up and transporting coffee or other items on horseback or muleback. These men would go to far away places and spend days or weeks without going back home and needed a strong and durable bag in which they could easily carry all their essentials.
Photo: Mario Carvajal
Tradition and Modernity
Our Carriel is the result of closely co-working with Colombian artisans to make a Carriel more adapted to our modern needs:
• Lighter: Although we decided to make our Carriel in leather like the traditional Carriel, we made it lighter for more comfort.
• More Space: We reduced the number of compartments and pockets of the Carriel, in order for bigger objects to be able to fit in each compartment.
• Playful: We like to experiment, so we changed the texture and opaque colors of the fabrics inside the Carriel for colorful and bright fabrics.
• Multipurpose: The Carriel can be worn across the body like a traditional Carriel. It is also possible to shorten the strap to wear it as a shoulder bag.
• Elegant: We replaced the traditional plastic zippers with gold metal zippers for more durability and elegance.
Our Values
Unique Pieces
Each piece is one of a kind and has been 100% handcrafted. All of our collections have a limited number of pieces and can not be find else where. We are reinterpreting the centuries-old traditional Colombian Carriel bag by offering a unique and distinctive minimalist design.
Only Premium Leather
We only source full-grain bovine leather, which is known to be the best quality, strongest and durable type of leather. Our leather is a by-product of the farming industry in Nariño, Colombia, a region rich in nature with mild climates which produce the finest leather in Colombia.
Ecological and Socially Conscious
We use durable materials and sustainable packaging to reduce our environmental print. We intentionally do not use paper tags or plastic bags and have designed our boxes to be able to be folded flat for ease of transportation and use vegetable-based printing inks for our box prints. Our production is designed purposely to reduce waste, produce small collections and maintain a reduced stock.
Each piece is handcrafted by Colombian artisans from the Nariño region and supports the work of the artisan families. We visited the artisans home in Nariño where their leather workshop is located and can ensure the craft production involves fair work practices and no child labor.
An Exquisite Experience
Although we are just a new brand, we try to create an exquisite experience for you and to make every detail extra special. We are cooperating with a group of seamstresses from Bogotá, who are each the main breadwinner of their households and these amazing women have they have embroidered by hand the dust bags for each Carriel bag! Our bags come in signature Bomboná packaging made out of hard cardboard which provides high resistance and protection from humidity. We strive to reduce our footprint to the environment: We purposely do not use paper tags or plastic bags and have designed our boxes to be able to be folded flat for ease of transportation. We also use vegetable-based printing inks for our box prints.
