clothing

Shown in silhouette, a graceful woman balances a pot on her head. Emmanuel Atiemoh Yeboa portrays her in oils on cotton calico, adding cutouts of African kente cloth for her dress. The composition arrives in a frame of ceiba wood.

Music banishes sorrow as a man plays the kora, a stringed instrument of Northern Ghana. Proudly wearing traditional kente cloth, he plays sweet melodies and sings. Emmanuel Atiemoh Yeboa portrays him in oils and ink on calico, adding cutouts of kente cloth for his robe and turban. Original and beautiful, the work provides a glimpse of contemporary life in West Africa. It arrives in a frame of ceiba wood.

The perfect complement to something as personal as your tablet is a case bursting with charisma, and few things are more charismatic than kente cloth. Made from interwoven strips of different colored cotton, Ghanaian artist Hannah Dodoo uses kente to decorate this case featuring nylon lining and trim, foam padding, and a zipper and velcro closure.

The designs on this iPad case are anything but dull, making it much more interesting than other electronics cases. Ghanaian artist Hannah Dodoo uses kente fabric to create this foam padded case and then finishes it off with nylon lining and a zipper and velcro closure. While no longer only reserved for royalty, kente cloth designs are still very much esteemed within Ashanti culture.

Woven by hand, traditional West African kente cloth becomes a colorful scarf. Rachel Armah presents a traditional design known as Edwene Si Edwene So. The phrase means "double wisdom as special as gold" in the Akan language. Each strip of kente cloth requires considerable effort, and the looms are worked with both hands and feet. Each color has its own meanings in Asante culture. Green is fertility and new harvest, gold is royalty, black is strength, aging and spirituality, and white is purity.

A colorful cotton print depicts Ghana's traditional Edwene Asa kente design. The phrase means "all motifs are used up" in the Akan language, indicating the number of different patterns combined in this one. Each color in kente cloth has its own meanings in Asante culture. Green is fertility and new harvest, gold is royalty, black is strength, aging and spirituality, and white is purity.

Justina Botwey uses the fabric to craft a pair of beautiful contoured face masks. Lined in solid white, both are double-layered, washable and reusable, with elastic loops to slip over the ears. "To me, the combination of colors in this kente design indicates that, despite our differences, we are still one people," the artisan affirms.

The position of individual prints and colors will vary but the fabric will remain the same.