Copenhagen, Denmark / Miami, Florida · Est. 1998 (RICE Denmark); 2019 (Rice by Rice USA) · Founded by Charlotte & Philippe Guéniau
Charlotte and Philippe Guéniau had great jobs and a full life in Paris -- and after 15 years, they needed a change. Over a long lunch in the French countryside with an old school friend, they decided to try something new: selling a few colorful items in Copenhagen. Their first product was a single raffia bag from Madagascar. It sold out immediately. They had to ration them. RICE was born in 1998, and the color has never stopped. Now available in the US through Rice by Rice, a Miami-based woman and Latina-owned distributor bringing the full RICE universe stateside.
Charlotte and Philippe Guéniau spent 15 years building careers in Paris before they sat down to lunch in the French countryside with an old friend of Charlotte's and admitted what they'd been feeling for a while: good jobs weren't enough. They wanted to slow down, explore, and build something that felt genuinely joyful. The lunch ended with a decision. They would move to Copenhagen and try selling colorful objects.
Their first product was a raffia bag handmade in Madagascar -- natural, beautiful, and completely unlike anything available in Danish homeware shops at the time. The response was immediate and overwhelming. They sold out. They rationed. Then they expanded: melamine cups in saturated colors, cushions, candle holders, storage baskets, hand-painted ceramics. RICE was founded in 1998 and built around a single conviction: that everyday objects should make people happy. The name is a nod to Madagascar, where workers are sometimes partially paid in rice -- a reminder of where the brand's roots are.
Today RICE is carried in dozens of countries and produced under rigorous ethical standards with suppliers across Portugal, Thailand, India, and Madagascar. The melamine is BPA-free. The raffia is natural and sustainably sourced. In the US, the brand is brought to life by Rice by Rice -- a woman and Latina-owned business based in Miami, founded in 2019, dedicated to spreading the RICE universe across America. On a registry, RICE is the brand that makes a table feel like a celebration -- the pieces a couple reaches for every single morning and still smiles at years later.
