African Textiles

The Kuba kingdom, where men weave the raffia and women soften and embroider it. African textiles carry some of the most graphic design anywhere. From the Democratic Republic of Congo come Kuba raffia cloth, tcaka dance skirts and cut-pile Shoowa prestige panels, their geometry said to follow Kuba scarification patterns. The Mbuti of the Ituri forest beat barkcloth and paint it freehand in gardenia-black lines. In Ghana, Fante asafo companies flew appliqué frankaa flags, and Asante and Ewe weavers sewed narrow loom strips into kente. Further on: Dida tie-dyed raffia from Ivory Coast, Yoruba aso oke, Dogon and Mossi cotton, ndop cloth from the Cameroon Grassfields, Fulani and Tuareg weaving from the Sahel.

Raffia, cotton and indigo hold color softly, never glossy. Framed, Mbuti barkcloth reads like a drawing; a Kuba skirt along a dining table or a bench at the foot of a bed brings rhythm and warmth. Pattern, without apology.