About

Since his childhood, Vincent Urbain had always been attracted to leather and handmade work. Born in Belgium, he graduated in Economics and decided to move south.

Vincent, a water fanatic, landed in Cape Town in 2003 where he wind-surfed and undertook different jobs. One of which was distributing rough handcrafted leather sandals, made by Tanzanians crafters on top of the Cape Town train station.

Soon Vincent realized that, more than distributing, he wanted to explore the intricacies of the world of leather and having some spare time, he started to first make a shoe from hide, it took him 3 days and 3 nights. Completely self-taught and hungry to learn, he then moved onto a bag, then an armband …

Moving from hides to leather, the range started to define itself and in 2005, urban africa was born: minimalistic, elegant, funky, timeless in design, trendy, understated but aspiring.

The 2010 range consists of 14 pieces. The range is designed by Vincent and Reanne Gray and all pieces are individually handmade by Vincent & his team. No two pieces look the same.

Stockists

urban africa distributes to more than 100 boutiques, design shops, art galleries worldwide.

you’ll be able to find our pieces in the following cities :

• Antwerpen - Belgium
  Brussels - Belgium
  Carabeans - USA
  Cape Town - South Africa
  Dubai - Arab Emirates
  Giessen - Germany
  Hamburg - Germany
  Libreville - Gabon
  Johannesburg - South Africa
  London - United Kingdom
  Milan - Italy
  Tokyo - Japan
  Windhoek - Namibia

Pressroom