Tracing cloth, across countries..

Through this week’s reading by Yuko Tanaka, we are reminded of the importance of textiles, its significance through the years, and highlights in its production and trading across four centuries. The focus is on Asian textiles, and its influence on different parts such as Europe and France. Differences between Indian and Chinese textiles, as well as connections between Japanese and other Southeast Asian textiles, are brought to light.

From the start of the 16^th century, cultural exchanges have been mapped through textiles. A mixture of traditional and new techniques, and many innovations in patterns and methods of production was encouraged. As the author says, ‘different values of everyday life in the different eras of history can be understood’ through textiles. We see the significance of such items through paintings and literature.

As we know, important pieces of textiles were handed down as part of a legacy, which brings me to certain pieces of cloth that I have inherited, that hold special value to me.

That is a picture of fabric that my mother purchased in Nairobi, Kenya, years ago.  I didn’t know how it reached there, where it was produced, or even what it was really called. I could tell that it was a block print of sorts, but through this exercise, I have managed to trace it to the start. Apparently, these fabrics are known as the ‘African Wax Print‘.

They are so called as traditional methods of dyeing textiles with patterns are adopted. Methods are used to "resist" or prevent the dye from reaching all the cloth, thereby creating a pattern and ground. The most common forms use wax, some type of paste, or a mechanical resist that manipulates the cloth such as tying or stitching. Originally, these fabrics came from Indonesia, which were then exported to the Gold Coast and spread over West Africa into Central Africa.

They are considered both Traditional - because they've been sold in African markets since the industrial revolution and many of the original designs are still popular today. Contemporary - because today's designers are creating new patterns to reflect modern tastes, as well as putting a contemporary spin on traditional designs.  All 100% cotton, they have a slightly stiff or starchy feel and are primarily produced in Ghana and are of great cultural, social and economic importance.

Researching on the connection between African and Indonesian fabric brings me back to the reading by Yuko Tanaka. He speaks vastly about Indonesian fabrics and uses them as examples of variety and diversity. Although there were influenced by great civilizations and religions, as well as being standardized by the European company, they never lost their diversity, which also came from the number of religions and tribes represented in the country. In Indonesian textiles, there are a variety of techniques such as batik, warp ikat, weft ikat, double ikat, supplementary-weft, tie-and-dye and gold-leaf-batik etc. There is also a multitude of patterns.

Batik is one of the most famous techniques used in Indonesian textiles, but it is said that batik evolved fairly recently, because the word batik is not mentioned in the old Javanese language. The batik that is described here means the technique using a sophisticated wax-resist process, especially the batik that is most familiar today. This refers to the cap block-printing process (similar to the one mentioned in reference to the African fabrics) in the batik industry that was introduced into Java in the 19th century.

By reading cloth from our generation and the one’s before, it is easier to form parallels and connections across countries and cultures. The further you explore it, greater the clarity you gain on its significance.