DETAILS:

The Sahara lumbar pillow is a beautifully designed one-of-a-kind home accent which evokes the essence of tribal West Africa and the incredible handcraft of making traditional mud cloth. The bold white geometric lines highlight the rich rusts and browns. Two batik bone buttons bring another unique and eye-catching design element to this decorative pillow which will be the focal point of any room.

• 25” x 15”

• Front – cotton

• Back – linen, in black

• Zipper closure

• Down duck feather insert

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 in the cloth has 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 dye the cloth by first soaking the fabric in ground leaves creating a yellowish color. It is then dried and covered with a 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. Mud cloth is woven with hand spun cotton.

Embellishing this pillow are two batik bone buttons from Kenya.

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 the baskets.