These colourful strip-woven cloths are the most recognizable of all African textiles. They are known by the name kente and their creators are the Ashanti, an ethnic group native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. The term kente is not used by the Ashanti themselves, but may have come from the word kenten meaning "basket". It refers to the checkerboard appearance of the cloths. According to legend the first weaver learnt his skill by studying the way in which a spider - a symbol of treachery and wisdom in Ashanti folklore - spun its web.
Technically kente are large voluminous toga-like wraps worn by men and women. The cloths are about two by four meters for men and one by two meters for women and are made up of 16 to 24 long and narrow loom-woven strips sewn together and each strip generally does not exceed a width of 4 inches. They are worn by wrapping around the body toga-style over the left shoulder and under the right arm.
The
pattern on this kente is known as Puduo or Kuduo, which was a pyramid-shaped
brass container used in rituals to sustain the family. 1970-1990 silk. The Indianapolis Museum of Art
Originally kente was woven from cotton. But when silk fabrics from Europe reached African market silk threads were obtained by carefully unravelling those fabrics to be then rewoven into kente. One of the first accounts of Ashanti silk weaving comes from the 1730s. Some of the finest silk kente were those made for royalty and chiefs. Unfortunately very few cloths that may be dated to that time have been preserved. And since 1920s the majority of kente cloths have been woven in rayon.
In most kente cloths the design effect is achived by alternating regularly positioned blocks of pattern in bright colours with the more muted contrasting colours of the warp-striped plain weave background. Blue, green, yellow, red and magenta are typical colours used for the main body of kente.
Interestingly, each kente has a distinctive name and it is exactly the background design that provides the name. One of the most popular designs featuring red, green and gold stripes is named after the lineage of the Ashanti king. Some of the names refer to the leaders of the past or to the persons for whom the designs were first woven. Others refer to historical incidents, to household objects or to proverbs. For example, pattern with red, green and blue stripes on a yellow warp is named "if you climb a good tree you get a push" - meaning if your intentions are good people will help you. There is also design named "he has become rich", it is supposed to be worn only by men who had more than a thousand pounds worth of gold dust. Marriage kente often have motifs symbolizing life-affirming messages such as "extended family is strong."
Ashanti weavers use only geometric, non-figurative motifs primary in bright red, green, blue and yellow colours in their strips wich distinguishes them from very similar Ewe people's kente whose designs are of more pastel hues and usually depict such figurative subjects as animals, human figures, ceremonial stools, household objects, hats, trees and flowers.
The wearing of kente is typically reserved for formal occasions when high status festive dress is required. But kente print has been widely used in fashion world by international designers and you can spot a beauty wearing a kente print dress or holding a kente print bag somewhere in the streets of New York or Paris.
References
African Textiles by John Gillow
The Art of African Textiles by Duncan Clarke
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, v.1 Africa
Ashanti Kente Cloth featured in "Measure of Earth: Textiles and Territory in West Africa", Gregg Museum of Art & Design
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