Here’s a pretty eye-opening story about the economic realities of traditional carpet weaving in Morocco.

– It seems like there must be some importer out there who would be interested in working in a beneficial way with the collective of female weavers featured in the article…

A virtual trunk show awaits at The Loaded Trunk – !

via a helpful comment at The Style Files.

Holy smokes, tribal trappings is a good website! It has lots and lots – and lots – of textiles (keep looking for the “more” button at the bottom of each page, I missed that the first time around). There’s also  interesting / informative detail given about many of the different categories of textiles shown. I’m enamored with several of the Chinese pieces, in part because they’re really expanding my idea of what a “Chinese” textile might be.  The image above is a Chinese bridal blanket made by the Maonan ethnic group.

Just back from Seattle and saw some interesting “commemorative cloths” featuring political leaders on display at the Seattle Art Museum, including one of Obama (though not the one shown here). It’s an interesting tradition and one I’d love to see more of  state-side. Here’s a link to a write-up of the history of this type of fabric along with several examples.

The first paragraph begins this way:

“Fancy print” textiles produced in Europe for the markets of colonial Africa emerged in the 1920s as a cheaper substitute for so-called “Dutch wax” resin-resist prints. Although they were of lower quality and the design was only on one face, they had one distinct advantage which soon opened up a new range of decorative possibilities and hence a novel social role. Unlike wax prints, the technology of fancy prints allowed for the reproduction of photographic imagery. Very quickly the technique was adopted to produce what have become known as commemorative cloths.

The textile shown in the image above (via True Up) is a more graphic take. — I know we’re well past the election at this point but sheesh, I think Obama needs some positive vibes at the moment! So yes, “hooray for the president”.

For more actual wax prints visit previous posts on Vlisco and Ananse Village.

…An addition to my (very) periodic series of “textiles in the news” posts: the image above was taken by Beatrice de Gea for The New York Times and documents the burial of a newborn in Tanzania. (For the full article and accompanying slide show click here). The intimacy of the composition is made more gripping by the jarring contrast between the lively textiles worn and the mournful task undertaken.

The article refers to Kanga cloths further described by Wikipedia.

Leo & Kesho is a website where more images of Kangas (and their counterpart Kitenges) can be seen.

I know the blog is getting a bit stripe-heavy these days, but it is what it is…This particular stripe comes from Maroc Tribal, a site selling new and old Moroccan carpets and textiles.

I’ve been vaguely aware of the Malian photographer Seydou Keita (1921-2001) for awhile now — though his only actual presence in my life comes in the form of an unfulfilled Amazon wish list item, since the main book on him is selling for over $350. Today he popped up again in what looks like will be another missed encounter: his photography is included in the current Metropolitan Museum exhibition The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End, showing until April 5th. I don’t think I’m going to be in NYC before then, but if you are — try to make it to this exhibit! It looks wonderful.

Holy smokes this is a find! Thanks to a comment by Cristina on an earlier post I’m now in wax-print heaven over here at Vlisco – founded on Holland in 1846 and still going strong!

Rosa commented on my previous post and introduced me to her beautiful blog and the wax prints she sells on a parallel site. It’s all eye candy to me — and tantalizingly out of reach since her blog is in Portuguese. The fabric above is so pretty though, especially the crisp contrast between the vibrant blue and orange. It looks like Rosa gives a wonderful description of it – but I’m afraid google translator hasn’t served me very well: something about “Reza” (the type of cloth?) being born in Kenya in the mid 19th century — and having something to do with Portuguese trade. Or is it that they are Indian scarves that were traded as currency in Kenya? Something like that.

9/17/08 ADDENDUM

Rosa wrote me with some added explanation of the fabric:

The fabric in the photo is a traditional headscarf from Mozambique (a former portuguese colony in East Africa), and my post is about the history of the kanga/chitenge, also known as pagne or capulana. Chitenge was originally made from six headscarves like the one in the photo sewn together ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitenge ).

Thank you Rosa!

I got an email from Ananse Village today alerting me to their collection of African textiles. I’m fascinated by the pattern of this Ghana wax print – along with some others on their site. (What’s the inspiration behind the trio of hands, or are they pairs of hands praying?) This also reminds me of an earlier posting (mystery still unsolved) of a fabric owned by a dear friend.