DETAILS:

The Bamana throw pillow celebrates West African culture in a bold way and makes a statement wherever it’s placed. This one-of-a-kind accent pillow was made with two types of hand-spun cotton mud cloth I collected while in Bolgatanga, Ghana. Originally made in Mali, high-quality mud cloth is now made in several other West Africa countries.

• 21” x 21” (53.3 cm x 53.3 cm)

• Front – cotton

• Back – polyester cotton blend, in beige

• Zipper closure

• Polyester pillow insert

• Fabric origin: Mali

THE STORY:

I have long been fascinated with the African textiles known as “mud cloth.” Every piece of this cloth is unique and has a story to tell. Originally, mud cloth was from Mali in West Africa. Mud cloth is also called “bogolanfini” and consists of three words: bogo, lan, and fini. Bogo means “earth” or “mud,” lan means “with,” and fini means “cloth.” Each symbol painted on the cloth has a special meaning and can tell the history of a village, a person’s occupation, social status, or proverbs. Some symbols remain a mystery

Traditionally, men weave narrow cotton strips of fabric that are pieced together to form a larger rectangular cloth. Women then dye the cloth by first soaking the fabric in ground leaves creating a yellowish color. It is then dried and covered with fermented mud to achieve patterns in black, brown, and white. These first two steps can be repeated many times to achieve the desired patterns and colors.

The top section of this decorative pillow is woven from hand-spun natural cotton and has a more complex motif design, with twisted warp ends forming a fringe that is decorated with African trade beads. The bottom section has traditional patterns with white highlights.

I purchased the mud cloths in a large market in Bolgatanga, Ghana. I was working with basket weavers who were part of a women’s development project within Trade Aid Integrated, a fair trade organization that markets baskets.