07/28/2026
Every item begins and ends with a person. This month we sit with two of the people who make Amanu what it is.
Our sandal artisan, Shepherd, started at Amanu from the day the Cape Town studio opened in 2023. He has worked with leather since he was young, learning in the factories of his own community, drawn to the discipline of making something with his hands. Each pair he creates is taken from raw material to finished form, selecting the leather, shaping the base, hand-stitching the sole and straps, and setting the hardware, all by his own hands. Every step made to the highest standard. “Making sure the sandal is comfortable and the fit is right is what takes the most time,” he says. “It matters more than anything else.” Today, he mentors the next generation of studio hands, passing on a craft that is, in his words, modern in spirit but traditional in method, made, always, by hand. “I found a family working with Amanu. I like that I keep learning here.”
Moneba leads quality control and has worked with Amanu for three years. She trained under Amanu’s Cape Town based instructors, building her craft alongside the studio itself. As the studios head of quality control, she is the last set of hands a piece meets before it leaves, carefully studying every stitch, every seam, every piece of unique hand-set hardware. She loves watching a piece come together from nothing into something whole, knowing that every detail has been thoughtfully considered. “I’m happiest when the client is happy.”
Made by hand, from Cape Town to you.
