An interesting article in the Financial times about the fact that African textiles are beginning to appear in both the UK and US markets.
Rebecca Hoyes, a senior designer at Habitat, travelled to Burkina Faso and collaborated with Malian textile designer Boubacar Doumbia. The pair experimented with the traditional bogolan technique, which involves colouring cloth with natural plant-based dyes, hand-painting designs and then covering it with mud from the Niger river to draw out the distinctive black, ochre and white colours.
“My role was to ensure we delivered a contemporary aesthetic and a more graphic quality within this traditional method,” says Hoyes. “Traditionally, bogolan patterns reflect tribal life in Mali so I came up with more urban motifs that reflect life here, such as one inspired by road markings.”
ps apologies for the lack of service last week !