Kuba Cloth

Kuba cloth pillow covers and table runners/wall hangings Our Kuba pillow covers and table runners/wall hangings are made with the bold geometries and rich textures of hand-woven raffia cloth from the Kuba people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The pillow covers are backed with fabric in natural tones which complement the Kuba textiles. Each one is a unique design. Considered among the very finest of Africa's textiles, weavings from this great textile society have long been valued and collected. In Europe, documented inventories of private and museum collections have even been traced back to the 16th and 17th Centuries. Their aesthetics and bold graphics have had a significant impact on the development of modern art and have influenced artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Klee. There are two basic types of Kuba cloth, made with woven strands from leaves of the raffia palm tree. This first is a flat-weave that often has appliquéd symbols and shapes sewn over the background (see at left). The second is often referred to as Shoowa velvet raffia or cut pile embroidery (see at right). The basic unit of Kuba weaving is the undecorated square of plain raffia cloth, the mbal, woven on an upright single-heddle loom. These are then sewn together to make the finished textile. The raffia thread is dyed to produce shades of red, brown, black and yellow. Shoowa velvet raffia is made by pulling a few threads of the raffia fibres, inserting them into a needle, running the needle through the cloth until the fibres show up on the opposite end. A knife is used to cut off the top of the fibres, leaving only a little showing. Doing this hundred of times creates a design. The appliqué designs are sewn on in abstract designs. Kuba artists favour an improvisational, fluid effect that plays with deliberate asymmetries and pattern variation.

Carl Rittenhouse 506 - 483 Linwell Rd., St. Catharines, ON L2M2P6 T: 289 362 1683 e: [email protected]