Trellis Love

Geometric sort of ironwork by Paula Prass from her Flights of Fancy collection produced by Michael Miller.

Inspiration -Black and White

Graham and Green

Adinkra Reigns

[Credit: http://www.nmafa.si.edu/exhibits/inscribing/adinkra.html]

Black and cream design with black gye nyame symbols

African fabric black and cream design with a black gye nyame symbols in a brown square. This fabric is 100% Cotton - Should be machine washed in cold water with like colors and mild detergent on a delicate setting. Do not bleach. Tumble dry on low and use a cool iron to remove wrinkles. (45 inches wide by 36 inches long). It is sold by the yard.

African Kuba cloth and mud cloth pillows

KENTE CLOTH ADANUDO, EWE, GHANA

Strip-woven cotton, before 1900

Museum Purchase, 2002 Eric D. Robertson African Arts, NYC

The Asanti of Ghana are famous for their colorful and elaborate Kente cloth.Their Neighbors, the Ewe, produced even more intricate Kente cloth. The designs in the center of the panels are created with supplementary weft threads; most are abstract but some are zoomorphic or anthropomorphic: a fish, a butterfly, a hand. An adanudo could not be purchased in the marketplace; it was commissioned at very high cost by a high-ranking elder. This heirloom wrapper is over one hundred years old and of breathtaking quality. The Ewe stopped weaving cloths like this around 1960.

Bold brown wallpaper with gold objet d'art from Ghana to inspire

Browns, Golds and Black

YSL's Art Collection

Shoowa Design: African Textiles from the Kingdom of Kuba. Georges Meurant. London, 1986. 205 pages, 102 large color plates and over 800 black and white drawings and illustrations. This very large volume features beautiful plates of Kuba raffia cloth embroideries from the Congo--most from private collections. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find copies of this out-of-print book.

Symbolic meanings of the colours in Kente cloth

Black -- maturation, intensified spiritual energy

Blue -- peacefulness, harmony and love

Green -- vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, spiritual renewal

Gold -- royalty, wealth, high status, glory, spiritual purity

Grey -- healing and cleansing rituals; associated with ash

Maroon -- the color of mother earth; associated with healing

Pink -- assoc. with the female essence of life; a mild, gentle aspect of red

Purple -- assoc. with feminine aspects of life; usually worn by women

Red -- political and spiritual moods; bloodshed; sacrificial rites and death.

Silver -- serenity, purity, joy; assoc. with the moon

White -- purification, sanctification rites and festive occasions

Yellow -- preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility

Adinkra -Black & White

Adinkra Symbols........

Kente Inspiration

West African Weaving. Venice Lamb. London, 1975. 228 pages, 310 black and white illustrations plus a few color plates. This classic work focuses on the narrow strip weaving of West Africa. It examines the history and techniques, the geographical distribution, and the economic development of this production. Although it covers weavings from Dakar in Senegal eastwards to Cameroun and northwards to Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad, it describes the work of the Asante and the Ewe in the most complete detail.