scarf and shawl

Fit for royalty, this traditional shawl combines mulberry and white to create geometric patterns. Ghana's Akoma of West Africa creates this fringed shawl, which is woven by hand to form four strips of kente fabric that are sewn together. This shawl's width allows it to double as a scarf.

In colors of kelly green, maize, and charcoal, zigzags, geometric patterns, and small stripes decorate this Ghanaian shawl. Akoma of West Africa presents this scarf, which is handwoven from a rayon and cotton blend to create three strips of kente fabric that are sewn together.

Somu and Soma design a beautiful shawl that celebrates the traditions of Bengal. The navy silk wrap is woven by hand on a traditional pit loom with Bishnupur double-ply silk. Its colorful mosaic print in turquoise, scarlet red, lime green and teal blue symbolizes the festive Bengalese message of "13 festivals for 12 months."

As with all handwoven silk, there will be minor slubs where the threads are joined. These are not defects, but evidence of an artisan-crafted work of textile art.

The intricate texture in this handsome kente cloth shawl is inspired by beach pebbles. Designed by a fisherman around 1898, its name means "pebbles of the shore are hard to crack." The tiny blocks of pattern represent the thoughts of that ancestral craftsman. Handcrafted by the Gobah Tengey-Seddoh Family, this extraordinary double weave textile is one of the most difficult patterns to achieve. These expert weavers use traditional looms and a cotton blend.

Each strip requires considerable effort, and the looms are worked with both hands and feet. Strips are generally three to four inches wide and seven to ten feet long, and the length of time it takes to complete one strip varies by the complexity of the chosen pattern. The simplest use mostly vertical, or warp patterns, and an experienced weaver can make several of those in one day. But patterns with nearly all weft (horizontal thread) patterns, where the warp design is hardly visible, can take up to four days to complete an individual strip. Each color has its own meanings in Asante culture. Green is fertility and new harvest, gold is royalty, black is strength, aging, and spirituality, while white is purity. The patterns themselves are carefully chosen symbols, which a master weaver develops and names, often to honor people, historical events, or proverbs.