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ExplainCloth is to the African what monuments are to Westerners. Fabrics tell stories and mark moments of history.
El Anatsui is an African artist born in Ghana in 1944
Cloth tells stories?
What shapes, colors, and patterns do you see in this textile collage? It was made by the artist Adoulaye Konate from Mali.
It celebrates the colorful, coded language of African textile patterns and culture. Each of the 67 pieces in it shows a traditional type of African textile craft and knowledge.
Shweshwe fabric is a symbol of South African culture. It’s made by Three Cats, a local company that also does projects to help the community and nature.
A South African designer made this shweshwe dress. It is a tribute to Albertina Sisulu, a hero who fought against unfair rules in South Africa.
Shweshwe fabrics mix tradition and modern printing techniques. This one celebrates the first Black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela.
Textile patterns are like colorful, repeating puzzles on fabric
Combining shapes and colors
Think of textile patterns as puzzles of repeating shapes on fabric. Some are simple, others intricate. They're made using weaving, block printing, or digital techniques. Look closely at these patterns from different times and places. What catches your eye?
Block printing
Motifs and colors are added one after another by hand to create a fabric. It takes a lot of time and is expensive to make.
Mechanical roll-printing
Thomas Bell’s invention could apply up to six colors at once. It changed textile making and pattern design in the late 1700s.
Digital textile printing
Laser or inkjet printers put designs and colors on the fabric. The final colors can look different based on how it’s done.
This video shows people trying to remake a 300-year-old robe. The problem? Modern printing methods make it look different. It’s like printing a crayon picture with an inkjet. Which is the original?
Did people always like the same patterns? This sample card from the 1820s shows simple and intricate patterns using flowers and shapes. Patterns became more vibrant with the invention of the roller printing press in 1783.
Adolf Jenny-Trümpfy’s digitized books are a fascinating collection of bright textiles and recipes for special color dyes. They show saved samples of unique patterns and colors from his family’s old textile company in Glarus, Switzerland.
Who influenced designs?
In 1804, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, a French weaver, made an important invention for the textile industry!
The Jacquard loom could be programmed to create more detailed and complex textile patterns.
It was a mechanical device that used a series of punched cards for control – a bit like a very early version of a computer.
Inspired by nature
The artist William Morris was inspired by nature and created textile patterns that were very balanced and harmonious.
He was a pioneer of the British Arts & Crafts movement and even did postage stamps!
Modern textile artists are still inspired by his designs, which reflect natural balance.
Abstract patterns
The British designer Lucienne Day made textile patterns with unusual shapes. She was inspired by abstract art and artists like Swiss painter Paul Klee. Like many female designers, she was a big influence on the design of modern textiles.
History tellers
Our patterns change as we do, but the stories in our fabrics last forever, passed on to future generations.
The textile studio Timorous Beasties does a great job of capturing history in their “Glasgow Toile” designs.
What do you think the patterns and fabrics of our time will say about us?
Make your own pattern
Our world is full of fascinating patterns, from nature to textiles to works of art. Take a look around and notice the patterns that surround you! Maybe you'll be inspired to create your own unique design. Who knows? You could be the next pattern influencer!
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African colors
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Bibliography
General literature on textiles and pattern design
Frederick, K. (2020). Twilight of an Industry in East Africa: Textile Manufacturing, 1830-1940 (1st Edition 2020). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43920-0
Gillow, J., & Sentance, B. (2009). World textiles: a visual guide to traditional techniques. Thames & Hudson.
Harris, J. (2010). 5000 years of textiles (This edition published 2010). British Museum press.
Hofmeester, K., & Grewe, B.-S. (Eds.). (2016). Luxury in global perspective: objects and practices, 1600-2000. Cambridge University Press.
Wilhide, E. (2018): The complete pattern directory. 1500 pattern designs from all eras and cultures. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, London.)
African textiles and patterns
Clarke, D., Moraga, V. D., Fee, S. E. N., Allain, J.-F., & Vair, C. (2022). Textiles africains. Citadelles & Mazenod.
Edoh, M. A. (2016). Redrawing Power? Dutch Wax Cloth and the Politics of “Good Design.” Journal of Design History, 29(3), 258–272. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epw011
Frederick, K. (2020). Twilight of an Industry in East Africa: Textile Manufacturing, 1830-1940 (1st Edition 2020). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43920-0
Gaulithy, M.-A., Ngomedje, C. N., Pange-Ibinimion, P. B., & Coste-Manière, I. (2022). Sustainable Fashion: African Visual Artist’s Contribution to the New Paradox Discussion—Case of El Anatsui as a Sustainable Thinking Agent. In Sustainable Approaches in Textiles and Fashion (pp. 167–182). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0874-3_10
Gillow, J. (2009). African textiles: color and creativity across a continent. Thames & Hudson.
Grosfilley, A. (2024). The Global Trade of Wax Fabric. In The Routledge History of Fashion and Dress, 1800 to the Present (1st ed., pp. 81–98). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429295607-6
Kraamer, M. (2006). Ghanaian Interweaving in the Nineteenth Century: A New Perspective on Ewe and Asante Textile History. African Arts, 39(4), 36–95. https://doi.org/10.1162/afar.2006.39.4.36
Lewis, G. (2024). The Trans-Atlantic Dialogue of Kente Gentlemen: Cultural Impact and Value Creation in Global African Diaspora Fashion. eScholarship, University of California.
Ross, M., & Adu-Agyem, J. (2008). The Evolving Art of Ashanti Kente Weaving in Ghana. Art Education (Reston), 61(1), 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2008.11518985
Snowball, J., & Mapuma, A. (2021). Creative industries micro-enterprises and informality: a case study of the Shweshwe sewing industry in South Africa. Journal of Cultural Economy, 14(2), 194–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2020.1800505
Venkatachalam, M., Modi, R., & Salazar, J. (2020). Common Threads : fabrics made-in-India for Africa. African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL).
“Indiennes" / Calico prints
Gril-Mariotte, A. (2009). Indiennes, toiles peintes et toiles de Jouy, de nouvelles étoffes d’ameublement au XVIIIe siècle. Histoire de l’art, 65(1), 141‑152. https://doi.org/10.3406/hista.2009.3296
Lemire, B. (2003). Domesticating the Exotic: Floral Culture and the East India Calico Trade with England, c. 1600-1800. Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, 1(1), 64–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/17518350.2003.11428632
Smith, C. W. (2007). “Callico Madams”: Servants, Consumption, and the Calico Crisis. Eighteenth-Century Life, 31(2), 29–55. https://doi.org/10.1215/00982601-2006-013
Geometrical patterns & tessellations
An, M. H., & Jang, A. R. (2023). Development of textile pattern design by M. C. Escher’s tessellation technique using chaekgeori icons. Fashion and Textiles, 10(1), 15–19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40691-023-00336-w
Industrial revolution & heritage
Cookson, G. (2018). The age of machinery: engineering the industrial revolution, 1770-1850. Boydell Press.
Jung, J. (2022). The Laboratory of Progress: Switzerland in the Nineteenth Century (1st ed., Vol. 1). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003243137
Toms, S. (2020). Financing Cotton: British Industrial Growth and Decline, 1780-2000 (NED-New edition, Vol. 17). Boydell & Brewer. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxhrm9r
Textile colours & dying
Goethe, J. W. von. (2016, original edition: 1810). Zur Farbenlehre. (K.-M. Guth, Ed.). Contumax GmbH & Co. KG.
Matisse, H., & Breuer, D. (2004). Matisse et la couleur des tissus / [catalogue David Breuer... et al.]. Gallimard.
Textile design & designers
Bennett, P., & Miles, R. (2010). William Morris in the twenty-first century. Peter Lang.
Briggs-Goode, A. (2014). Lucienne Day: In the Spirit of the Age, Andrew Casey. Textile, 12(3), 387–390. https://doi.org/10.2752/175183514X14156359537268
Coxon, A., & Albers, A. (2018). Anni Albers. Tate Publishing.
Crawford, L. B. (2020). Enid Marx: Pioneer of Modern Pattern in Inter-War Britain. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
Mishra, A. (2023). Weaving Against Empire: Warped Feminism, Aesthetics, and the Archives of Fabric and Textile Art. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
Parry, L. (2013). William Morris Textiles. V&A Publishing.
Triggs, O. L. (2012). Arts & crafts movement (1st ed.). Parkstone International.
Learning objectives
Based on Curriculum 21, German-speaking Switzerland, 2024.
The students ...
BG.3.A.1 for 7+
1a) Explore and describe signs, colors, shapes, and materials in works of art from different cultures and time periods, as well as in images from everyday life.
TTG.2.C.1 for 7+
2a) Differentiate and narratively describe shapes, sizes, arrangements, and patterns.
NMG.7.1 for 9+
2 c) Understand what heritage and belonging mean to people (e.g., family, language, clubs, country of origin, religion).
Copyright and licenses
Images in the quiz journey through Africa
Woman selling bogolans in Mali Vendeuse de bogolans à l'embarcadère du bac sur la rivière Bani - Environs de Djenné – Mali, BluesyPete, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Background Bogolan Mud cloth, Centre for National Culture, Accra, Ghana, Ariadne Van Zandbergen, The Africa Image Library, Copyright
Woman weaving striped fabric, connecting to child’s traditional cloth Patriotisme, press illustration by Damien Glez for Courrier International. CC BY NC ND
Background Fason Dan Fani Pure Tradition 276, Fason Dan Fani Cloth, curtesy of Mon Faso Dan Fani, Abidjan, Copyright
Young kente weaver working on a strip loom Kente Weavers Village by aripeskoe2, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Background Kente Kente cloth weaving, Kumasi, Ashanti, Ghana, Ariadne Van Zandbergen, The African Image Library, Copyright
Three young African models showcasing Ankara fashion designs Vlisco Fashion Fund award winning Ankara fashion collection “Revolutie” by Ghanian designer Jeremiah (2018) via Vlisco.com, Copyright
Background Ankara Ankara pattern, straight lines and curves, textile art, tribal abstract hand-draw, geometrics shape image (605364654) by Sawan via Adobe Stock,Copyright
Four girls showing their khangas Girls in Khanga, Rod Waddington, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Background Kanga Detail of a colourful Tanzanian kanga cloth as worn by Tanzanian women Stone Town Unguja Zanzibar Tanzania, J. Marshall - Tribaleye Images, Alamy Stock Photo, Copyright
Capulana cloth with African jaguars Commenorative Cloth, Mozambique, Cotton, printed, Maker Unknown, L 196 x W115 cm, Gift of Joel Rosenbloom, Courtesy of the Textile Museum of Canada, Copyright
Background capulana A capulana also spelled "Kapulana," a type of a sarong fabric worn primarily in Mozambique for sale at the craft market of Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique Africa, Eddie Gerald, Alamy Stock Photo, Copyright
Stash of Shweshwe indigo-dyed patterns showing the portrait of Nelson Mandela Pile of Shweshwe Nelson Mandela fabric, Da Gama Textile Co., courtesy of tierneycreates.com, Copyright
Background Shweshwe Traditional Shweshwe textile pattern designs by Three Cats, Da Gama Textiles 1H131704. CC BY BC ND.
Background end of journey Kikoi for sale in the makret, Blantyre, Malawi, Ariadne Van Zandbergen, The African Image Library, Copyright
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