Every year over 2 billion yards of ‘African’ print fabric is sold across sub-Saharan Africa of which more than 80% are designed and produced in other parts of the world (Uqalo Research, 2015). Introduced to a commercial West African market in the late 19th century by the Dutch, the so called wax print cloth has undergone many transformations over the past hundred years and cheaper imitation prints from China now make up 60% of the total market share.
Although import products, the countless colourful patterns and designs have been shaped by African consumer demand to suit specific regional customs and tastes. As such they have become an integral part of cultural heritage practices.
At a time when emerging global fashion trends increasingly drive cloth production, design and user application this is changing. Consumer demand no longer has the same power of agency to make the textiles locally relevant. As textiles are circulated across digital global networks with ever increasing speed, they lose touch with their region specific context and contribute to an emerging African stereotype.
Recognizing a need to create new opportunities to take ownership of a product that has been so tightly interwoven with the cultural fabric of African communities, ‘Cultural Fabric Africa’ is looking at textile design as a tool to facilitate such opportunities. It seeks to provide a platform for textile designers to better understand the complexities of designing for cultural integration and to recognize the potential of their work to inspire the preservation and re-creation of living heritage practices. In so doing, this platform does not suggest definite solutions but rather explores new approaches towards creating meaningful textile print patterns.
Who I am
I am bringing into this research a formal background in art and design in the context of sustainable development in South East Africa. Over a period of nearly ten years I have been involved in projects that were based in remote coastal communities in Mozambique. My contributions there…continue reading
How to use this site
Rather than clearly emerging problems and solutions, this study has resulted much more in a kind of mapping of a complex terrain in which questions of perception and interpretation may significantly shape individual opinions. My decision to make the research available as an online website and blog has been partly to put it ‘out there’ for debate but also to create a useful tool…continue reading
Introduction
Every year over 2 billion yards of ‘African’ print fabric is sold across sub-Saharan Africa of which more than 80% are designed and produced in other parts of the world (Uqalo Research, 2015). Introduced to a commercial West African market in the late 19th century by the Dutch, the so called wax print cloth has undergone many transformations over the past hundred years and cheaper imitation prints from China now make up 60% of the total market share.
Although import products, the countless colourful patterns and designs have been shaped by African consumer demand to suit specific regional customs and tastes. As such they have become an integral part of cultural heritage practices.
At a time when emerging global fashion trends increasingly drive cloth production, design and user application this is changing. Consumer demand no longer has the same power of agency to make the textiles locally relevant. As textiles are circulated across digital global networks with ever increasing speed, they lose touch with their region specific context and contribute to an emerging African stereotype.
Recognizing a need to create new opportunities to take ownership of a product that has been so tightly interwoven with the cultural fabric of African communities, ‘Cultural Fabric Africa’ is looking at textile design as a tool to facilitate such opportunities. It seeks to provide a platform for textile designers to better understand the complexities of designing for cultural integration and to recognize the potential of their work to inspire the preservation and re-creation of living heritage practices. In so doing, this platform does not suggest definite solutions but rather explores new approaches towards creating meaningful textile print patterns.
Who I am
I am bringing into this research a formal background in art and design in the context of sustainable development in South East Africa. Over a period of nearly ten years I have been involved in projects that were based in remote coastal communities in Mozambique. My contributions there…continue reading
How to use this site
Rather than clearly emerging problems and solutions, this study has resulted much more in a kind of mapping of a complex terrain in which questions of perception and interpretation may significantly shape individual opinions. My decision to make the research available as an online website and blog has been partly to put it ‘out there’ for debate but also to create a useful tool…continue reading