If you have already read a few texts or blog posts on our website and wonder where and from whom this is coming from – my name is Raffael, and I’m sitting in the jungle in Sri Lanka right now, working on this website from my laptop connected to my mobile hotspot.
How it all started
Well, where and how to start? In a nutshell – I first solo traveled to Asia when I was 17 after I realized that whatever I was surrounded by in Germany or anywhere in Europe didn’t actually originate from there. Glass comes from one corner of the earth while all the metal, food, devices, etc., come from yet another corner of the earth.
So, I was more than interested in traveling to places where people still live on the fundamental ground of life, surrounded by their own creations, leaving a footprint nowhere else than in their own gardens. As I quickly found out on my very first trip to Asia back then, such areas or villages that I dreamed of are pretty rare and not really easy to find in our modern world.
On a trek in Nepal
At that time, I was already into meditation and self-discovery, so I found out that the drive I felt to experience our fundamental and original ways of living came from my ever-present curiosity to experience my own fundamental self and origin.
Although it wasn’t easy to first get in touch with any kind of remote village or whatever I was seeking, after some time in Sri Lanka and Nepal, and after I got more and more in touch with myself, I started to get in touch with beautiful small local villages and remote areas where I was heartily welcomed and invited to stay for as long as I liked to.
So, over the past 7 years of discovering my inside and outside, I came to meet many wonderful friends, families, and villages. My everyday life here consists of meditating, reading, enjoying the environment, drinking tea, sleeping, and repeating.
How did it come to Tribe Vibe?
Textile, garment, and handcraft manufacturing is as common in Nepal and Sri Lanka as machinery and technical stuff in Germany or Europe. Some of my friends and families work for very huge brands and companies, and some run their own small businesses with sewing, art, handlooming, or any kind of handcraft.
So, after having stayed in various local villages and families for so long, I had the idea of building a brand together with some of my closest friends, families, talented handcrafters, and villages that I know and that know me very well by heart. The intention is to support them and to give back some of the unconditional love that I receive whenever I visit them.
Through making this website, I want to provide a way for them to share and sell their precious handcrafts directly to those who wish for them, without countless middlemen, companies, and whatever else in between.
If you like to get a deeper insight into my journeys and lifestyle in general, feel free to check out my personal social media account on instagram – raffaeliving.
No one saves us but ourselves,
no one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path.
-Gautama Buddha