THE ORIGIN
Daphne Wattiez spent more than a decade in film production, a discipline in which every frame is decided.
The sandal she had in mind did not exist. What was synthetic was made to be discarded; what was made from natural materials had yet to be given the contemporary form she wanted.
Training in shoemaking at Arsutoria and design at Central Saint Martins followed, then three years of research into bio-based materials and an extensive search for the hands able to work them. She founded AKVO at the end of 2023.
A first collection of three silhouettes, unisex, handmade in the Mediterranean — straps, footbed and sole each over 85% bio-based — footwear that belongs to no season.
THE STUDIO
The name is the Esperanto word for water: a shared language, for a shared element. Under it, the first three designs: MARO, KORO and TETHYS.
The Mediterranean is a culture that extends beyond its coastline, and each pair is made within it: straps woven in Italy, soles moulded in Portugal, and assembly by hand in a small-scale factory near Porto, by artisans whose expertise spans generations - fitting, cutting, bonding, stitching, finishing.
Since its inception, AKVO has held Pending B Corp status and partnered with Coral Guardian on reef restoration in the Mediterranean.
THE MAKING
One constraint, from the first design onward: natural materials wherever possible.
The straps are woven from 70% GOTS-certified hemp and 30% Tencel™ — naturally dyed, breathable, softening with wear. Hemp grows without chemicals and restores the soil it grows in. Tencel™ is a lyocell fibre made from wood pulp in a closed loop that recovers over 99% of its solvent and recycles its water. The weaving takes place in Le Marche, in a GOTS-certified workshop where traditional and modern techniques sit side by side.
The footbed is a sugarcane-based bio-foam with 86% bio-based carbon content, measured to ASTM D6866 by an accredited laboratory — a direct replacement for petroleum-based cushioning.
The sole is Pura Latex® — 86% natural rubber from the Hevea tree — moulded by a Portuguese supplier founded in 1973, with the "A" wave: AKVO's signature, and its grip.
Footbeds can be marked by hand in the Paris studio — a name, initials, a date — pressed with bronze type cut in Paris since 1812, by the last maker of bronze typefaces in the world.
Each pair arrives in an embroidered dust bag of 100% cotton and — in place of a shoebox — an FSC-certified paper sheath, embossed and assembled in France by a master printer at work since 1935. Nothing superfluous.
