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The designs I like best are irregular and have movement in them. It is as if their patterns take on a life of their own and start crawling around, metamorphosing themselves as they make their way across the fabric.
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These cloths made of palm raffia were worn for important ceremonies. These highly valued cloth squares could be folded up easily and used as money. Sewn together to 4 meter lengths they made up skirts. Their generic name is ntshak = woman's skirt. The secrets of weaving raffia are said to have been revealed to the Kuba people of Zaire (Congo) by their king around 1600. Though he was the son of a slave, King Shyaam a-Mbul is said to have used magical powers to appropriate the throne. His travels had exposed him to raffia weaving and appliqué embroidery techniques. He was an artist-king who created new textile designs and encouraged artistic development in many fields - sculpture, iron work, architecture, tailoring.
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There are three kinds of Kuba cloths:
*damasks whose designs are made through the weave itself
*dyed fabrics (sometimes using reserve techniques)
*embroideries including velvets and appliqués
I felt I really started to understand Kuba cloths once I started to take them apart a bit to translate them into my own designs. Sometimes they form a vision of the cosmos, sometimes they are playful and bend themselves into visual jokes. Unravelling, reweaving. Above are two examples of velvet kuba cloths.
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Photos Massimo Listri from the catalogue Le royaume du signes Musée Dapper
what a beautiful post- I love kuba cloths- have them at my own home and a friends home I have done- in fact working on a post on this home right now with some kuba cloths used. G
ReplyDeleteAh! So we 'll have things to show each other. My suite to this post shows interiors with kuba cloths as well...
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