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Kente Cloth
Legend has it two farmers, came across a spider, Ananse, spinning a web. Amazed by the web’s beauty, the farmers returned to their homes - eager to try and recreate the web. They wove a cloth first from white, and then black and white, fibers from a raffia tree. They then presented their cloth to the Ashanti Asantehene, or king, Nana Osei Tutu. The fabric is an Akan royal and sacred cloth historically worn only in times of extreme importance as it was the cloth of kings. Over time, the use of Kente cloth has become more widespread and even globalized.
Adinkra Cloth
Adinkra cloth comes from the Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana. What sets this cloth apart are the Adinkra (life) symbols stamped on to sewn together cotton strips that are stamped with symbols in black ink historically using carved gourd stamps. They symbols represent life concepts. Originally adinkra cloths are funerary wear with different colors and symbols signifying closeness of mourners to the deceased. The white Adinkra cloth is Sunday wear. The stamps evolved over time to being carved in brass and these in themselves have become collector’s items. One of the most well known Adkinra symbols is the Sankofa bird which looks backwards: "go back to the past and bring forward that which is useful." The bird is rendered as twisting its beak behind itself, in order to bring forth an egg from its back. It is also meant to signify that an understanding of the personal past is critical in understanding the future.
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Bogolan
Bogolan (Bambara: bɔgɔlanfini; "mud cloth") is a handwoven Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed with fermented mud. It has an important place in traditional Malian culture and has, more recently, become a symbol of Malian identity. Bogolan tunics are traditionally worn by hunters, a highly respected and powerful group for whom bogolan's earth tones serve as camouflage, ritual protection, as well as an immediately recognizable emblem of their occupation. The cloth is also present at important events in a woman's life. Bogolan wrappers are worn by girls following their initiation into adulthood and immediately following childbirth. The cloth is believed to have the power to absorb the dangerous forces released at these significant moments. The bold geometric patterns and the earth colours of black, brown and beige make it very adaptable for fashion and interior design and the cloth is exported worldwide.
Dutch Java Wax
African wax, also known as Ankara or Dutch Wax, prints are common materials for clothing in Africa, especially in West Africa. Dutch java wax prints have an interesting history and trajectory: from inception in Dutch Java colonial Indonesia back to Europe and then to West Africa. It is a fabric that is deeply imbued with a background in colonial migration, globalism, cultural resistance and powerful appropriation, fusing with new cultures and creativity finally resulting in something authentically African which is now at the beginning of a new appropriation by Western fashion designers.
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Damask
Damask is another example of cloth that has undergone an interesting journey through the ages: from China to Damascus and then to Europe and then with colonial trade to West Africa where it too underwent an artistic recast as the fabric backdrop to embroidery and ultimately powerfully beautiful suits for men and increasingly for women. Known as bazin, it is impregnated with wax which is then pounded with mahogany mallets onto the cloth which leaves a deep and shiny resin on to which the embroidery is cast.
Baye Fall Cloth or African Patchwork
The Baye Fall are a Sunni Muslim sect primarily based in Senegal. They pledge a vow of total allegiance to Cheikh Ibra Fall who fought against French colonialism in the latter half of the 19th century. The vow to this prophet is one of poverty which meant they often wear their clothes to tatters which requires patching for continuous repair. In the modern day the patches are made from leftover wax or bazin fabrics from tailor shops. The resulting look is something artistic and aesthetically beautiful and again enterprising creatives are fashioning fabrics for interior design from the roots of this technique dating back to the anti-colonial struggle of the 19th century.
Global Meets Local at care’s innovation hub
“Husband and wife team Jumbe and Anja Sebunya of aKAZ!ATL have curated the hub’s first art installation with African fabrics from their private collection.”
