handmade scarves

Originated by the Akan peoples of Ghana, colorful kente cloth is the best-known of all African textiles. Kente cloth is woven in strips, which is how it came by its name (kente means "basket" in the Ashanti dialect). Ghana's Rachel Armah creates this colorful cotton blend scarf in cheerful shades of purple, saffron, brown and aqua.

In kente cloth, each color has a symbolic meaning: black symbolizes maturation and intensified spiritual energy; blue signifies peacefulness, harmony and love; green symbolizes vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, and spiritual renewal; gold represents royalty, wealth, high status, glory, and spiritual purity; grey is for healing and cleansing rituals; maroon signifies the color of mother earth, associated with healing; pink and purple are associated with the female essence and female aspects of life; red symbolizes political and spiritual moods, bloodshed, sacrificial rites and death; silver is associated with the moon and represents serenity, purity, and joy; white is for purification, sanctification rites and festive occasions; and yellow represents preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility, and beauty.

Originated by the Akan peoples of Ghana, colorful kente cloth is the best-known of all African textiles. Kente is woven by hand in strips, which is how it came by its name (kente means "basket" in the Ashanti dialect). Ghana's Rachel Armah creates this colorful cotton blend scarf in cheerful shades of blue, pink and cream. The scarf's width allows it to double as a shawl.

In kente cloth, each color has a symbolic meaning: black symbolizes maturation and intensified spiritual energy; blue signifies peacefulness, harmony and love; green symbolizes vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, and spiritual renewal; gold represents royalty, wealth, high status, glory, and spiritual purity; grey is for healing and cleansing rituals; maroon signifies the color of mother earth, associated with healing; pink and purple are associated with the female essence and female aspects of life; red symbolizes political and spiritual moods, bloodshed, sacrificial rites and death; silver is associated with the moon and represents serenity, purity, and joy; white is for purification, sanctification rites and festive occasions; and yellow represents preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility, and beauty.

Combining shades of pale gray and black, Gobah Tengey-Seddoh creates an outstanding example of kente cloth art. Gray derives its symbolism from ash, used for healing and cleansing rituals. Black represents physical aging and the spiritual maturity it brings. Each strip requires considerable effort, and the looms are worked with both hands and feet. The patterns themselves are carefully chosen symbols, which a master weaver develops and names, often to honor people, historical events or proverbs.

Designed by a fisherman around 1898, this intricate kente cloth pattern is inspired by beach pebbles. The tiny blocks of pattern represent the thoughts of that ancestral craftsman. Kpekui states a proverbial refrain: "pebbles of the shore are hard to crack." Handcrafted by the Gobah Tengey-Seddoh Family, this extraordinary double weave textile is one of the most difficult patterns to achieve.

Each strip requires considerable effort, and the looms are worked with both hands and feet. Strips are generally three to four inches wide and seven to ten feet long, and the length of time it takes to complete one strip varies by the complexity of the chosen pattern. The simplest use mostly vertical, or warp patterns, and an experienced weaver can make several of those in one day. But patterns with nearly all weft (horizontal thread) patterns, where the warp design is hardly visible, can take up to four days to complete an individual strip. Each color has its own meanings in Asante culture. Green is fertility and new harvest, gold is royalty, black is strength, aging, and spirituality, while white is purity. The patterns themselves are carefully chosen symbols, which a master weaver develops and names, often to honor people, historical events, or proverbs.

Woven by hand, traditional West African kente cloth becomes a colorful scarf. Rachel Armah presents a traditional design known as Edwene Si Edwene So. The phrase means "double wisdom as special as gold" in the Akan language. Each strip of kente cloth requires considerable effort, and the looms are worked with both hands and feet. Each color has its own meanings in Asante culture. Green is fertility and new harvest, gold is royalty, black is strength, aging and spirituality, and white is purity.