David Rivadulla (Ribags)

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.” This saying by the British novelist R.L. Stevenson supports the foundations of the Ribags philosophy. The company’s history dates back to 2007, when David Rivadulla, master craftsman of this new concept of backpacks, was an expat in Romania with the purpose of running a branch of the family business. His father, a respected manufacturer of Valencian and leather couches, had set David on the same course.

Among hides and chisels, he discovered something one of his employees had made: a basic backpack designed with leftover bits of leather. This ordinary product, the result of a coincidence, was just the start of it all. David redesigned this rudimentary backpack to give it life, providing it a meaning and a history. It took little time for the artisanal Valencian product to assume a place of excellence, earning wide local acceptance.

The prodigal son returned and brought with him the backpack that was the fruit of his destiny. A synergy of tradition and modernity. A handmade backpack of a unique design that encourages this artisanal spirit, even though it exists in a society where it’s easy to fall into monotony.

David Rivadulla, or Riva to his friends, is an Valencian craftsman who started his path there in 2007 and today has a first-rate track record of collaborations with the Madrid designer Moisés Nieto and even Jagermeister. If you visit Valencia, you could pass by his showroom, located in the Ruzafa neighborhood, which will soon have a selection of additional products like wallets, purses, and computer cases, all made by hand.

As David told us: “Ribags is a voyage to craftsmanship and to design. Unique pieces, natural leather and a story of adventure in every model.”

A restaurant?

El Nozomi in the Rufuza neighborhood of Valencia. I really like Japanese food, and there they prepare it in a spectacular way. Every plate surprises you — the attention is sublime. They’re very attentive to all the details, and they take care of the diner to the millimeter. Plus, the aesthetic is super cool, very inviting, mixing the traditional with the vanguard.

A dish?

Arroz a banda. It’s fairly Valencian, and I love rice in all facets, but a banda especially. It’s my favorite dish. If you invite me to eat it, you know you’ll have already won me over.

An ingredient?

Rice. From its first stage in the summer, when it’s planted in the fields and looks like green meadows, for example, like those you can see now in Albufera, in Valencia. Up to the final product that we eat at the table, which you can cook in a thousand different ways. It’s a product that appears in a multitude of cultures and is representative of each one in its different versions.

A drink?

An albariño, a Galician wine, fresh from Boiro, the village of my father. It’s a fishing village in the Rías Baixas, Galicia. If you go above the town to drink it, you can see the Rías themselves, which is the best of the best.

If you were to invite us to dine at your house, what would you cook?

I’d make you one of my specialties! Chicken with Thai green curry. My friends always tell me that I make them the same dish all the time. I respond that it’s worth appreciating that, although my cuisine is limited to this sole dish, you’ll never try anything better than mine!