Loveknits in content collaboration with Design Indaba came across an amazing designer that we would want to feature this time.
Fabric: Aso Oke
Place: Nigeria
Designer and photographer: Tunde Owolabi
The process of making Aso Oke is time-consuming and manual. Ready-made yarn can now be sourced cheaply, but historically cotton was picked, processed and dyed by hand and old looms could only weave narrow strips of fabric. A single garment would take months to create. In the past Aso Oke was only affordable to rich people, and those who couldn’t buy the material borrowed from relatives or bartered to loan it.
“People are beginning to modernise the process, but they still use the looms and it is still made in a traditional way,” says Owolabi. “People have seen the importance of keeping the heritage.”
Fascinated by the eye-catching material and unable to find out much about it, Owolabi travelled to the place where it started: Iseyin in Oyo State.
There he found a young community of predominantly male weavers, taught by their fathers and grandfathers to operate the looms.
“It was good to see the art was being passed down through the generations,” he says.
“Using the loom is an art; combining the colours is an art. I wanted to show people how rich our culture is.”
Owolabi organised an exhibition in November 2014 titled The Woven Beauty, where he displayed photographs he had taken of women in elaborate headgear and pieces of Aso Oke material, showed a screening of a short documentary he had made in Iseyin and held a live weaving performance.
“A lot of people who wear Aso Oke don’t know where it comes from or how it is made. People were really intrigued to see some of the history of the fabric and they now appreciate they are wearing an art piece.”
“Every pair of shoes is slightly different,” he says of the colourful shoes, which he has made in men’s and women’s styles. “My hope is to one day have an online store where you can order a bespoke pair and choose your colours.”
I
In awesome content collaboration with www.designindaba.com!
Follow us on
pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/loveknits
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Loveknits.org
twitter: https://twitter.com/LoveknitsORG
Visit our website
Read our blogs
Contact us
email: jma@loveknits.org