Craftsmanship Glossary
From Adinkra to Maasai Beading, a comprehensive guide to key materials and techniques that comprise Africa’s rich textile and crafts landscape.
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Acid-dye
A chemical anionic dye dyes protein fibers, including wool, silk, and polyamide fibers. This range of dyes is often referred to as brilliant dyes, are wet-fast, and produce good results in fastness and brightness of color. They can usually be applied in an acidic or neutral state. This large group of acid dyes, with a limited range of colors, is subdivided into four main classes: acid leveling or equalizing dyes, acid milling dyes, half milling or perspiration fast dyes, and super-milling or fast dyes.
Adinkra
Adinkra cloths are distinguishable by the designs applied with carved gourd stamps and black dye within a rectilinear grid, separated by a three or four-tine comb brushed in measured segments across the length and width of the cloth. Some cloths have a single stamped design, while others have over twenty designs. Dark Andinkra aduro pigment is made by soaking, pulverizing, and boiling the inner bark and roots of the badie tress in water over a wood fire. Once the dark color is released, the mixture is strained and boiled for several hours until it thickens. The stamps are carved out of the bottom of a calabash piece, measuring between five and eight centimeters square. They have a handle on the back, and the stamp is slightly curved so the dye can be put on with a rocking motion.
Adire
The Yoruba word adire means tied and dyed. The everyday fabric is produced by Nigeria’s Yoruba people using a range of resist-dyeing processes. As a textile technique, Adire initially emerged in the city of Abeokuta in the nineteenth century. Historically, locally woven cloth called Teru was tied to produce simple patterns with indigo dye found in local elu leaves. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the new access to large quantities of imported shirting material made possible by the spread of European textile merchants in certain Yoruba towns, notably Abeokuta, enabled women dyers to become both artists and entrepreneurs in a booming new medium. New techniques of resist dyeing were developed, most notably the practice of hand-painting designs on the cloth with a cassava starch paste before dyeing. This was known as adire eleko. Alongside these, a new style was soon developed that accelerated decoration by using metal stencils cut from the sheets of tin that lined tea chests. Another method was to use sewn raffia, sometimes combined with tied sections, while other cloths were folded repeatedly and tied or stitched in place. The basic shape of the cloth is that of two pieces of shirting material stitched together to create a women’s wrapper cloth. Most of the designs were named, and popular designs included the jubilee pattern (first produced for the jubilee of George V and Queen Mary in 1935), Olokun or “goddess of the sea,” and Ibadadun “Ibadan is sweet.”
Ageing
This was formally a process in which printed fabric was exposed to a hot, moist atmosphere. The term almost exclusively applies to treating printed fabric in moist steam without air. Ageing is also used to develop specific colors in dyeing, such as aniline black.
Akwa-Ocha
Akwa-Ocha is native to the indigenous Anioma people of Nigeria’s Delta State. The fabric has evolved over time and traditionally is worn for ceremonial occasions, particularly weddings. Intricately crafted from locally harvested cotton, the fabric, the name of which translates to its literal meaning “white cloth,” has historically been a scrupulous collaboration between Anioma men and women. Men harvest the locally cultivated cotton, while the female community hand-spins it on the loom, resulting in luxurious cloths in ivory shades. Some Akwa-Ocha cloths are embellished with symbols and motifs: plants and animals appear frequently, in addition to symbols of the cosmos, which reflects the varying regions’ spiritual and social beliefs. Today, the prestigious attire is solely produced in the Delta State and provides a livelihood for the Anioma community.
Akwete
Akwete cloth is a vibrant, hand-woven textile, with ancient Igbo origins. Originating in Nigeria’s Abia State, Akwete was originally known as “Akwa Miri,” which translates as “cloth of the water,” and is reported to be as old as the Igbo nation itself. This weaving technique is practiced solely by female artisans. The community maintains the belief that their skill is a divine gift that they are born with; a gift exclusive to the Akwete people. The cloth is meticulously spun on a wide, vertical loom using raw materials ranging from wool, cotton and silk, to raffia and hemp. While coarser materials were used as part of the indigenous group’s traditional masquerades and as headpieces for its warriors, materials such as hemp were used to weave towels and handbags, and cotton was spun for everyday clothing due to its light and airy nature. Each cloth can take weeks to craft, depending on the complexity of its design
Appliqué
Appliqué is a widespread technique, particularly in haute and demi-couture, where one material, usually plain, is placed on top of another to create unique contrasting motifs, patterns, or textures. It is essentially the collaging, or layering of fabrics, traditionally using needlework techniques, to ‘ornament’ or ‘apply’ an extra dimension to the fabric.
Artisan
An artisan works with their hands to create unique, functional, and decorative items using traditional techniques. Artisans are masters of their craft and create products such as clothes, toys, tools, or furnishings. These artisanal techniques are learned through decades of tribal knowledge and passed down within families and communities. Many artisans depend on resources from their nearby surroundings to create these items. In economic terms, an artisan is a small producer of goods who owns their production and makes a living from their trade.
Aso-Oke
The hand-loomed Aso-Oke cloth lends to the sumptuous traditional wear of the Yoruba people from southwest Nigeria, worn mainly for ceremonial occasions such as chieftaincy coronations, weddings, and name day celebrations. The name of the fabric translates to “top cloth.” Men traditionally don it as a three-piece outfit, an Agbada, while women wear it in head ties, blouses, and sarongs. To the Yoruba, the cloth represents prestige due to the widespread understanding of the labor-intensive and costly production process. The fabric is cultivated from cotton plants, which usually takes between five to eight months from plant to harvest. The harvested raw cotton is then processed by hand through an ‘Orun,’ or ‘Spindler,’ which involves the material being rolled over a wooden loom and rotated until sufficiently thinned or spun. Next comes the most tedious part of the process: sorting. Traditionally done by hand, this quite simply consists of a person removing all the dirt from the spun cotton. Finally, creativity comes into play as the cotton is dyed and woven to create imaginative patterns for the grand final piece. Aso Oke textiles are sometimes used in contemporary clothing to denote high craftsmanship and luxury elements.
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