Our Story

 

“Gaucho”, is a nomadic and rebellious South American cowboy who became a symbol of rustic elegance, courage, and autonomy, and the Gauchesque style is still today considered a benchmark of fashion in the Latin Lands. 

Mariana Rinaldi, the founder of Gaucha Designs, is the granddaughter of European immigrants, who sailed to South America from Italy and Spain. 

Her ancestors, after battling against the rough seas of the Atlantic Ocean,  arrived in Argentina, The land of Gauchos, in 1899. 

Mariana’s parents met in Buenos Aires in 1965 and on December 17 of 1972, they gave birth to a baby girl who would become a cowgirl in life.  

In a gaucho fashion, Mariana began to ride horses very early and galloped her childhood through the “Pampas of the South” on the back of animals that she baptized with people's names.  

 Her beloved father would take her by his side to canter along the East Coast of South America. They let themselves be carried away by the rhythm of the animal and by long conversations on leather saddles.

They rode at the beach fairly often, in bright full moons that lit the white foam of secretive waves that no one else witnessed but them.  

Once childhood and adolescence taught Mariana the essential values of a Gaucho mind, she decided to fight against the "chicos malos" by becoming a criminal lawyer. 

Mariana will ride her black motorcycle Honda Rebel to Criminal Court every day for six years. 

Each morning she would choose from her favorite collection of leather jackets, pants, and boots, clothing that made her feel protected from the harshness of the city and the stress of her vigilante duties. 

Her 450-horsepower motorbike would always carry saddlebags made of brown leather, which would always be filled with legal books, motorcycle tools, and a change of clothes, just in case the day took her to the opposite direction of her house (which it seems to happen fairly often). 

On her daily rides,  the speed of her mechanical horse was used to propel the smell of leather from the back of the bike to Mariana's nose. That familiar smell was what made her feel cradled and wrapped in the magical and irrefutable aroma of gaucho adventures. 

 Once her beloved motorbike had worn itself out from legal wars, Mariana turned to her inherited nomadic blood and transformed her identity from a vigilante lawyer to a globetrotter in search of more natural and peaceful lands.

Mariana ventured beyond the Argentinian borders and decided to meet her South American neighbors. 

She entered the quietness of Uruguay, the isolated beaches of Brazil, the sparkling-colored lakes of Bolivia, and the Caribbean free-spirit airs of Venezuela. 

Mariana kept on traveling for one reason: she couldn't find herself and the constant forward momentum of traveling kept her hopeful that in the "next town" she will find her soul.

She went to cross the Atlantic Ocean and enter the lands of her European ancestors. 

She first sailed and surfed the coasts of Spain and Italy to understand more of her genetic roots, and later launched herself into more alien lands such as Portugal (where her Portuguese became handy to order custard tarts), France (where she ended up being chased by English hooligans while watching a soccer game during the World Cup  between England and Argentina...the Argies won, of course, and that's why the chase!), Germany (where she jumped fences to be able to swim in overcrowded lakes in 40 degrees summers) and England (or what she calls "The Groundhog day country", because she thought that the English sky was on a repetitive loop of one color: grey). 

Europe was at the time, too populated for our Gaucha, so she decided to move to the Pacific Rim in 2001.  

It was in New Zealand that Mariana decided to start a career in contemporary dance.  

Her new profession as a choreographer and creative producer led her to continue exploring the world, and in the process, New Zealand became, and remains to this day, a long-standing base camp for her. and it is now the headquarters of Gaucha Designs.

Throughout Mariana's journey, leather has been a material that she needed to carry with her. 

It was not a deliberate or calculated choice, but rather an unconscious, irrational magnetism, like a rare romance without any ups or downs. 

Mariana thinks that without realizing it, leather became the representation of her Gaucha roots, of those lands where everything was lived and experienced through boots, saddles, reins, and horse powered saddlebags.  

Or perhaps, because a nomadic gaucho inadvertently needs a faithful companion, a silent witness of his/her odysseys. 

So now you know. 

Each one of our creations will be bringing you a bit of our Gaucha skin, wrapping you in a style that took generations to speak this leathery strong.