A Bamana weaver at his foot loom in Mali, West Africa
The designs of the Loom of Africa series are adorned with decorative bands that are hand-woven by the tribal Bamana weavers of Mali, in Saharan West Africa.
These narrow strips of hand-loomed organic cotton cloth are woven on double-heddle foot looms, where the warp yarns of hand-spun cotton, in lengths of many yards, are extended from a wooden framework structure, in which an individual weaver sits at his treadle. The weaving is done outdoors, in the open sun-baked lands of the Sahel countries, just south of the Sahara Desert.
Loom Of Africa / Ivory
The ‘Ivory’ series consists of three design themes of hand-woven cotton decorative bands that have an ivory colored background with black accent features:
‘SAHARA’: is a thick and nubby cotton with in-woven black, widthwise, ladder stripes.
‘SAHEL’: is a ribbed cotton weave with narrow, black, lengthwise, railroad stripes.
‘BAMANA’: is an ivory-based Mudcloth, dyed with river mud in various black motifs
The base fabric for the Ivory collection is an organic flax linen, in the paler neutral hues of Stone, Ivory, Ginger and Sand.
Loom Of Africa / Ebony
The ‘Ebony’ series consists of two design themes of hand-woven cotton bands and dyed raffia cloth, with an overall ebony background theme. Added features sometimes include raw jute decorative bands and cowrie shell appliques.
‘BOGOLAN’ is an ebony-based hand-loomed Mudcloth that is resist-dyed with black river mud to produce various white motifs. Mudcloth is woven in narrow strips on the Bamana foot loom; it is used in the pillow collections as a design accent on the side and front closures of the pillows and on the front pockets of the tote bags.
Left: Side and front closures / Right: Double front pocket on tote bags
‘BAKUBA’ is a raffia-based cloth that is woven by the indigenous Kuba tribes of the African Congo. These weavings are either tie dyed with natural ebony vegetal dyes, extracted from plants of the Congolese forests, or intricately embroidered with the natural fibers of the Raffia Palm that are dyed in hues of sepia and reddish browns.
Patterns vary considerably from one cloth to the other and the weaving is used to cover the entire front of pillows, with the envelope closure at the back or sides.
Left: Back closure / Right: Side closure
The base fabric used for the Ebony collection is an organic flax linen, in the darker hues of Ginger, Cocoa and Chocolat.
Sizes and Prices for Loom of Africa Collections
