African design

African design encompasses many forms of expression and refers to the forms of design from the continent of Africa and the African diaspora including urban design, architectural design, interior design, product design, art, and fashion design. Africa’s many diverse countries are sources of vibrant design with African design influences visible in historical and contemporary art and culture around the world. The study of African design is still limited, particularly from the viewpoint of Africans, and the opportunity to expand its current definition by exploring African visual representations and introducing contemporary design applications remains immense.

Key Characteristics

• Like all design forms, African design is defined by its creativity, continuously evolving, neither isolated nor static. Design is a form of story-telling and it is a medium through which those stories are told. In 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie spoke on "The Danger of a Single Story" which has become one of the top ten most-viewed TED Talks of all time. For years African design has been stereotyped, represented by ethnic prints and earthy colors and textures. Yet with 54 countries and over 1.2 billion people estimated in Africa as of 2018 and 210 million across the African diaspora (Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States), African design is not limited to a single aesthetic or singular history; rather it is multifaceted and influenced by the historical and present-day, local and global context in which the designer or consumer lives.

• African design is rooted in a rich heritage, techniques, and craftsmanship. As contemporary African designers move on from externally imposed definitions of the colonial era, they acknowledge African traditional craft and craftsmanship is where they draw inspiration: preserving the past by putting a focus on their heritage and traditions while remaining open to global influences and technology. An example is the architecture of the Kenyan National Library., inspired by the Djembe drum.

• Across Africa, sustainable design focusing on social responsibility and the environment is important and the use of locally sourced natural materials has always been part of the African design process. As stated by Professor Mugendi K M’Rithaa “It is about design for, and with, society.”

History of African Design

For centuries African kingdoms generated wealth from trading natural resources with other Africans and later Arabs and Europeans. The Asante Empire’s dominance over the gold trade has been documented. Similarly, rich agricultural societies of Central Africa and Southern Africa exchanged goods with the Portuguese since the 16th century. This wealth spurred local design and creativity across architecture, art, textiles, and other design forms. Examples include the 11th century Great Zimbabwe and the other 200 mortarless wall cities throughout Southern Africa as well as the Benin Bronzes created from the 13th century in the Benin Empire (present-day Nigeria). Textile weaving also flourished due to patronage by kings, chiefs, and other royals and aristocrats for ceremonial occasions such as birth, marriage, and funerals. In Nigeria, the ancient city of Kano was known for its highly developed textile industry and indigo dyeing-pits. In Central Africa, the Bamileke bought beads to decorate thrones and ceremonial clothing thereby enhancing their importance. External influences, particularly religion, also impacted design across Africa. Religion’s requirements for modesty encouraged the adoption of clothing. The arrival of Islam in the 11th century in West Africa and later Christianity in the 1450s in Cape Verde which spread along the West African coast and then inland stimulated local production of stripwoven cloths as well as demand for imported fabrics. In East Africa, cotton was introduced by Arabs in Ethiopia which spurred cotton-growing and a weaving industry to turn cotton into textiles.

Textiles

Main article: African textiles

Historically textiles were used as a form of money in West Africa and Central Africa. There are records of cloth being used as money since the fourteenth century. Pieces were made identical in size, efficiently carried, and exchanged in quantities based on the value of the item or trade.

Across Africa, there are many distinctive local styles. Wealthy individuals and traders required different types of locally-woven and imported cloth to enhance their prestige, driving demand. The Kuba in Cameroon and Congo has one of the widest range of textile skills in Africa including weaving cloth from leaves of raphia palm as well as embroidery, appliqué, cut-pile, and resist dyeing techniques.

Textile Weaving

Stripweaving, a centuries-old textile manufacturing technique of creating cloth by weaving strips together, is characteristic of weaving in West Africa, who credit Mande weavers and in particular the Tellem people as the first to master the art of weaving complex weft patterns into strips. Findings from caves at Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali propose its use from as far back as the 11th century. Stripwoven cloths are made up of narrow strips that are cut into desired lengths and sewn together. From Mali, the technique spread across West Africa to Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria. Raphia fiber from dried stripped leaves of raphia palm was commonly used in West Africa and Central Africa since it is widely available in countries with grasslands like Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria. Other fiber materials included undyed wild silk used in Nigeria for embroidery and weaving, as well as barkcloth from fig trees used to make clothes for ceremonial occasions in Uganda, Cameroon, and the Congo. Over time most of these fibers were replaced with cotton. Textiles were woven on horizontal or vertical looms with variations depending on the region.

• Horizontal looms: include single heddle looms, double heddle frame looms with foot treadles, and horizontal pit-treadle looms. However there are many variations, for example, the Yoruba. In Nigeria use single heddle looms with extra string heddles but Kuba raphia weavers set the heddles at 45 degrees. Double heddle frames are used by Asante silk weavers, Ewe and Cameroonian cotton weavers, and the Djerma weavers in Niger and Burkina Faso. While the Amhara in Ethiopia use double headle pit-treadle looms, where the weaver sits on the edge of a small pit dug in the ground.

• Vertical looms: Berbers in North Africa and the Yoruba in Nigeria used broad, upright vertical looms to weave cotton cloth while single heddle vertical looms are used in Cameroon and the Congo. Portable tripod looms used by Mande weavers are today unique to Sierra Leone and Liberia.

West Africa

• Asante Kente: The Asante were the dominant people of West Africa's Gold Coast, present-day Ghana. Controlling the only source of gold available, the Asante traded with other African states and later with Europeans after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century. With their wealth and a rich source of gold, they made all forms of jewelry, amulets, and talismans from the gold. In the 18th century, the Asante acquired knowledge of the strip weaving technique through trade that is seen in the present-day Ivory Coast. The Asante became respected for strip-weaving kente cloths in cotton and silk in the weaving village of Bonwire. The term kente means basket and refers to the checkerboard pattern of the cloths. The cotton for early Kente was locally grown, but the silk was imported since silk moths are not indigenous to Ghana. In present day, kente is found worn across the population, however its use is still concentrated among high society members and the wealthy. This stems from its long history of association with Asante royalty, who had also used it to denote their spiritual power, documented through later findings in their shrines to dieties.

• Ewe Kente: Kente cloth is also worn by the Ewe, who were under the rule of the Asante kingdom in the late 18th century and now located in Ghana and Togo. The Ewe, who had a tradition of horizontal loom weaving, adopted the double heddle frame loom style of kente cloth weaving from the Asante with some important differences. Ewes weave cotton cloth instead of silk or rayon and introduce floating figurative weft patterns representing proverbs. Also, since the Ewe were not centralized, kente was not limited to use by royalty, though the cloth was still associated with prestige and special occasions. A greater variety in the patterns and functions exist in Ewe kente, and the symbolism of the patterns often has more to do with daily life than with social standing or wealth.

• Nigerian Aso Oke: Aso oke meaning top cloth, is the most prestigious hand-woven cloth of the Yoruba of Nigeria due to the level of expertise and time required to weave the cloth. Traditional indigo-colored Aso oke often required the hand-spun thread to be dyed up to fourteen times to achieve the deep blues needed. Special techniques were used to make the threads colorfast so that they would not damage the lighter colored threads or embroidery when washed. The raw silk Aso oke called sanyan requires thousands of moth cocoons to be collected and their silk carefully unraveled and spun into thread. These types of labor-intensive activities were prerequisites to weaving and hand embroidering. Technically, Aso oke is what is known as a double-heddle narrow loom weave. The cloth is made by weaving one forty foot or more four-inch band of cloth. This long piece is then taken to a tailor who cuts it into pieces, sews it together, and sometimes hand-embroiders it. Traditionally, Aso oke was woven from cotton and imported or domestic silk. Aso oke outfits are worn during major ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, naming ceremonies, and important religious festivals.

East Africa

Ethiopian Cotton: With the exception of Ethiopia, textile weaving is less common in East Africa. In the 1st century, cotton was imported into Ethiopia by Arabs. Ethiopia has conditions that are good for growing cotton thus cotton was then locally grown and woven into cotton fabric on horizontal pit-looms mainly used by those with high social status.

Central Africa

• Kuba Raphia: The Kuba of Central Africa have one of the widest range of textile skills in Africa including weaving cloth from leaves of raphia palm as well as embroidery, applique, cut-pile and resist dyeing techniques. The Kuba kingdom’s need for traditional textiles for ceremonies has sustained their traditional cloth and weaving techniques since the height of the kingdom between the 17th and 19th century till today. Unlike in other regions in Africa where over time locally grown and homespun materials were replaced by mill spun and synthetic fabrics, the Kuba raffia looms could not be adapted for weaving cotton or other fibers; thus helping to retain traditional skills. Raphia is one of the most important indigenous fibres used in Central Africa including Cameroon, Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It grows in abundance and sustainably in the swampy lands. To make cloth raffia fabric, fibres from raphia palm trees are harvested, the upper skin is stripped and left to dry in the sun. The fibre is then woven into skirts and wraps. Raphia weaving is also concentrated in the eastern part of Madagascar where contemporary haIkat raphia warps are tie-dyed with multiple colors.

• Bark cloth: Bark cloth has ceremonial and ritual importance for the Baganda in Uganda as well as in Cameroon and the Congo. It is one of the first fabrics made in tropical areas of Sub-saharan Africa, specifically Central Africa. Bark from the tropical fig tree is stripped from the tree once a year and then sustainably regrows. The bark is moistened and then beaten rhythmically over a log until it expands by as much as four times into cloth. The cloth is then decorated with embroidery or dyed to create embroidered gowns, crocheted feathered hats, or the popular Bamileke stitched resist bark cloth.

Southern Africa

• Madagascan Silk: The island of Madagascar lies off the southeast coast of Africa, separated from the mainland by the Mozambique Channel. Malaysian Polynesians colonized the island in the first millennium and brought weaving techniques and burial customs to the island and the rest of Africa through trade. Cotton is grown all over the island but the most prestigious material is silk. There are 13 known varieties of locally grown silk. The silk is long and woven on a single heddle loom.

North Africa

• In Egypt, woven tapestries called kilim have been used as rugs since at least the 5th century. The craft is still popular today throughout Africa and Asia and often used as prayer rugs.

Basket Weaving

Basket Weaving

Basket

Imported Textiles

Further information: African Wax print, Kanga, Kitenge, Shweshwe

Dyeing

Dyeing is the main method of coloring cloth. From the Tuareg nomads of the Sahara to Cameroon, clothes dyed with indigo, the most common dye in West Africa, signified wealth and abundance. The Yoruba of Nigeria and the Mandinka of Mali are recognized as experts in indigo dyeing. Natural dyes such as vegetable and mineral dyes were widely used including blue from indigo which is obtained from a stream that runs from the Senegal River down to the Cameron border rich in Lonchocarpus cyanescens, the main plant for indigo dyeing. Other natural dyes include Morinda brimstone tree for yellow, white from kaolin clay, black from charcoal or black clay, brown from mud, and red from Camwood. Some dyes like camwood need to be heated before use. The camwood is grated into a powder, then boiled before adding the fiber to be dyed. However, other dyes like the Kola nut do not need heat. Resist techniques such as tie-dye, stitched and folded resist, wax batik, and starch resist are typical dyeing methods used to introduce patterns and color on the cloth.

West Africa

• Senegal: Stitch resist dyeing entails stitching the cloth to prevent the dye from reaching selected areas on the cloth. The stitching was historically done by hand but now also by sewing machines. The finest stitch resist indigo dyed materials are the Saint Louis textiles of Senegal. Manjak weavers produce the most widely used woven fabric in Senegal.

• Nigeria: Among the Hausa, indigo dyeing generated wealth in ancient Kano. Yoruba are masters of the indigo-dyeing process, using a stitch resist method to make Adire Alabere.

• Mali: Traditional mudcloth followed a specific method using weave, dye, and local mud. Desired patterns were a result of repetition of processes over time.

• Ghana: Adinkra symbols representing proverbs and aphorisms were stenciled on fabric using carved calabash stamps and a vegetable-based dye to make Adinkra cloths traditionally worn by royalty and spiritual leaders.

Central Africa

• Cameroon: Indigo dyeing in Cameroon is also done in pits very similar to technique practiced in neighboring Nigeria. To make resist-stitched, Bamileke indigo-dyed cloth, the geometric designs are stitched onto cotton cloth with a raffia thread. The stitched cloth is then dyed blue in dye-pits using indigo which traditionally was natural but has now been replaced with synthetic versions. The raphia stitches are then removed from the dyed cloth to reveal the pattern of white resist against a blue background. The patterns used range from geometric tribal motifs to figurative patterns of humans and animals. Clamp resist dyeing is used by the Kuba. Raphia panels are folded to form a cube and then clamped and dip dyed. The clamps are removed after dyeing to reveal the resist pattern in natural raphia against the usually black dyed background.

Southern Africa

• Zimbabwe: Batiks are created using maize flour paste. In eastern Zimbabwe, a long tradition of making sturdy naturally-colored mats from bark fiber exists.

Decoration: Embroidery & Beadwork

Embroidery was used for both decorative and functional purposes. The embroidery techniques, such as buttonhole stitch and cut-pile embroidery, are often simple, but their intricate effects are a result of the skill-level and final pattern design used. For example, hemmed appliqué is a simple technique still used today where raphia cloth pieces are cut into designs and sewn onto the base fabric. The decorative pattern depends on the region and the imagination of the embroiderer. The Asante in Ghana use non-figurative patterns representing proverbs while the Ewes use figurative weft patterns also representing proverbs. The Yorubas introduce rows of holes lengthwise in the woven cloth strip. Beadwork is common in East Africa and Southern Africa although it is still used in other parts of Africa including Nigeria and Ethiopia.

• West Africa: In Nigeria Hausa and Nupe embroidery is used on Agbada robes that are worn by Muslim West African men and those with high social status. Ghana’s Asafo, military organizations that existed as early as the late 1400s, balanced the political power of paramount chiefs and are most highly developed among the Fante with a typical town having two to 14 companies. Each company has its own name, number, regalia, and shrine. A company is led by a senior commander, captains of subdivisions, and various other officials, including linguists, flag bearers, priests, and priestesses. The Frankaa is the Flag of a Fante Asafo company. The block-colored patchwork design on the Frankaa alludes to proverbs, depicts historical events, or asserts the wealth and power of the Asafo company that manufactured it. Appliqué and embroidery appear on both sides of the flag. Before the 1500s, Nigeria imported beads from India. In the 19th century, Yoruba carvers and crown makers would assemble regalia using imported beads.

• East Africa: Ethiopia has two traditions of embroidery: Amhara embroidery influenced by Coptic Christian traditions and the Muslim style originally centered in the city of Harar, and influenced by Indian and Arabian embroidery patterns. Amhara embroidery is typically sewn on a handwoven undyed cotton chemise and the embroidery is at the neck, cuffs, and hem. The embroidery itself is made of cotton or silver beads. The Maasai, based in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania, started decorating their leather with beads mainly in the 19th century. The beads and shells were also used to make jewelry and to decorate masks, ceremonial dresses, and costumes.

• Central Africa: Raffia weaving, embroidered gowns, crocheted gowns, and feathered hats are all unique to the country of Cameroon. The Kuba use applique to strengthen the raphia cloth used for skirts. Since the raphia is rough, it is typically washed and pounded to soften it. This weakens the fibers and creates holes. Decorative appliques are used to cover up the holes.

• Southern Africa: Beadwork by the Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, and Basotho has been documented. Historically garments were decorated from natural materials such as ostrich shells. It was only in the 1930s that the Portuguese introduced glass beads through trade and eventually the glass beads purchased from Indian merchants or Christian missionaries. In Xhosa culture, beads represent the society’s organizational framework and the rites of passage that people have gone through. Symbolic references are drawn from the beads through the color, pattern, formation, and motifs. Motifs on the beads often used include trees, diamonds, quadrangles, chevrons, triangles, circles and parallel lines that form a pattern exclusive to certain age groups. Brick stitch is the most common technique for creating Zulu beadwork. Beads are staggered in rows and as each new bead is threaded, the thread passes under a loop of thread on the previous row and back. This gives Zulu beadwork characteristic traits. The Zulus favor motifs made up of triangles and diagonal and horizontal lines.

• North Africa:

Metalwork & Goldsmithing

Further information: Ghana Akan goldweights, Benin Bronzes

Art

Further information Prehistoric African Art, African Art thematic elements, history and influence, Museum of Black Civilisations

Architecture

Further information: Architecture of Africa, Moroccan Architecture

Influence on Global Design

Further information: African art in western collections

Contemporary African Design

Design is playing an important role as African designers move on from externally imposed definitions of the colonial era and redefine African design on their own terms. African designers acknowledge traditional craft and craftsmanship in contemporary designs. This places a focus on their heritage and traditions while remaining open to global influences and technology, and creates contemporary designs that take into account social sustainability and environmental sustainability needs of each region.

Institutions

Below are the institutions that showcase and support the study of African design, with an increasing focus on the perspective of Africans and the African diaspora.

• Dakar Biennale: Conceived as a celebration of African literature, craft, and visual arts in 1989, the Biennale has focused on contemporary African art and design since 1996. Based in Dakar, Senegal, the exhibition takes place every two years and has evolved into one of the largest shows comprising African design.

• Design Indaba: Founded in 1995, Design Indaba is an annual design conference in Cape Town, South Africa. As the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest creative conference, its goal is to enable a better world through creativity. The conference curates speakers from all the creative sectors including graphic design, advertising, film, music, fashion design, industrial design, architecture, visual art, new media, publishing, broadcasting, and performing arts. At the 2019 conference, ÖVERALLT, a high-profile collaboration between Swedish furniture brand IKEA and 10 African artists including from five countries, was unveiled. The designers included Selly Raby Kane, Issa Diabaté, Laduma Ngxokolo founder of Maxhosa, and Sindiso Khumalo. This limited-edition collection of African-inspired tableware, furniture, and textiles has been available for purchase across all IKEA markets since May 2019

• Museum of African Design: Based in the Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg, this is Africa's first museum dedicated to design. The museum is not a collecting museum and therefore does not have permanent collections. It is a space that, through collaboration with partner institutions, explores the evolving African continent and the African diaspora through exhibitions, installations, and showcase events. The museum officially opened in October 2013.

• Black Artists & Designers Guild (BADG): Founded in 2018 by Malene Barnett, an artist based in Brooklyn, New York, to address the lack of representation of Black talent and culture in the design industry. Barnett describes it as "a curated collective of black artists and designers throughout the African diaspora."

Art

Further information: Contemporary African Art, Contemporary African Art exhibitions, World Festival of Black Arts, Museum of Black Civilisations, The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art and Art X Lagos

Further information: African American Art, Influence of African Art on Western Art and General concept of Art

Architectural Design

Further information: Architecture of Africa, David Adjaye, Architect Africa Film Festival, List of Architecture Schools, Moroccan Architecture

Product Design & Interior Design

With a focus on storytelling and including time-honored designs and techniques of woodworking, metalwork, basket weaving, beadwork, and more, leading and emerging designers in Africa and the African diaspora continue to push the boundaries of current concepts of African design. They often use locally available materials and handmade techniques, which support environmental and social sustainability respectively. The result: more job opportunities and an expansion of contemporary African product designs including furniture, lighting, textiles, and decor.

Furniture

Leading Contemporary African furniture designers include Bibi Seck, co-founder of Birsel + Seck and Malian designer Cheick Diallo whose MO armchair, made using a combination of fishing wire stretched over a metal frame, is inspired by traditional traps used by Malian fishermen. The chair has been highly regarded as a perfect mixture of material, ergonomics, and local aesthetic in an elegant, somewhat sculptural furniture piece. The designs of Jomo Tariku, an Ethiopian American artist and industrial designer who draws on his experiences of African design and various African cultures in Kenya and Ethiopia, has been featured at the 2017 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and well-recognized design magazines including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor and Dwell. Jean Servais Somian, who spends his time between Africa and Europe teaching classes, infuses his creations with elements of ancestrality, reflected in his choice of materials (coconut wood, ebony, or acacia) and revisited objects of everyday African life like basins, sponge, or old fishermen’s canoes. Yinka Ilori, based in London, fuses together his British and Nigerian heritage to tell new stories in contemporary design. His work draws inspiration from traditional Nigerian parables and West African fabrics that surrounded him as a child. South Africa-based design company Dokter & Misses develop interior solutions for private and corporate clients as well as educational institutions all over the world, including MTV, Nike, and the University of Johannesburg, and continue to support and promote South African design.

Paying homage to his cultural ties, Hamed Ouattara’s designs highlight Burkina Faso’s artisanal metal-working heritage and address a modern global audience, including international galleries and important collectors, through African innovation. Recently deceased in April 2015 while preparing for his show in London, Babacar Niang, founder of Nulangee Studio in Senegal, sculpted furniture out of local, discarded wood that was sourced by the community kids and adults he employed.

Tekura Designs’ djembe side table, sustainably made from wood offcuts in Ghana’s forests, draws inspiration from the West African djembe drum. Nigerian architect and designer Tosin Oshinowo’s furniture brand Ilé Ilà produces furniture inspired by Yoruba culture.

Emerging designers include South African’s Candice Lawrence, inspired by the textures, people, and environment where she lives, has remodeled Ndebele necklaces into handcrafted lighting pendants that have been featured in Forbes, Vogue Italia, and Top Billing South Africa. Sifiso Shange was recognized in 2019 for Best New Talent at the 100% Design South Africa showcase (one of Africa’s leading exhibitions for contemporary design), for a design created in collaboration with established designer John Vogel whose signature chairs and furniture incorporate local materials and woven techniques.

Textiles

Multidisciplinary artist and textile designer, Aboubakar Fofana, is one of the world's foremost practitioners of fermented indigo vat dyeing and mineral mud-dye techniques and is known for his work in reinvigorating Mali’s nearly lost tradition of natural indigo dyeing and redefining West African indigo dyeing techniques. Based in Bamako, Mali, Fofana, utilizes the finest hand-woven fabrics and travels globally to lead workshops on indigo dyeing techniques.

Senegalese textile designer Aissa Dione creates luxurious fabrics using locally-grown cotton and Senegal's ancient, ancestral know-how. With a customer base including global brands Hermés, Fendi, Christian Liaigre, and Peter Marino, Aïssa serves the highest end interior design brands. Her designs and fabrics grace major design salons, from Paris to Johannesburg and New York. In 2019, Aissa Dione designed the interiors at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock artists’ residence in Dakar. Other established textile designers include Nigerian Eva Sonaike, Haitian brand Yael et Valerie, Conakry, Guinea based Tensira, Ethiopian textile designer Sabahar, and Egyptian rug maker Kilim practicing traditional hand-weaving techniques.

Decor

Basket weaving & Beadwork

With key hubs in Southern Africa, East Africa, and West Africa, designers and artisans weave eco-friendly functional and decorative baskets using available and sustainable natural fibers like sisal grass in Swaziland and raffia in Ghana. Some examples of leading designers include Zenzulu basket designs which are handmade and fairly traded, ensuring sustainable incomes for more than 350 artisans in South Africa. Zenzulu has been awarded the Elle Decoration International Design Award in 2002. The designs have been showcased in Design Made in Africa. Established in 1985, producer Tintsaba is recognized as an industry leader, working with over 1000 Swazi artisans including 20 Master Weavers. Gone Rural is another, named by Travel & Leisure as one of three brands making waves in sustainable fashion and housewares. In Tanzania, Sidai Designs collaborates with Maasai weavers to merge their techniques with a modern aesthetic. Contemporary artists like AAKS maintain the traditional legacy of weaving using raffia to create modern handbags and lighting.