Kuba Cloth
Kuba cloth is woven from the fib of the Raphia Vinifera Palm. These textiles are the survivors of an ancient African tradition of fine quality raffia cloth weaving that was once widespread across the whole of Central Africa.
Production of these textiles is a multiple stage process which involves the participation of children, men and women of the same clan.
Similar cloths from the Kongo kingdom on the coast to the west were greatly admired in post-Renaissance Europe and entered the curio cabinets and treasuries of nobles and kings as the finest products of African artistry
The weaving of raffia cloth is a continuing tradition among the Kuba for traditional use or for export.
Within the kingdom, different ethnic groups produce distinctly differing cloths which vary in terms of craftsmanship and embellishment
Among the decorative techniques that both men and women may use are certain types of embroidery, appliqué and reverse appliqué, patchwork, dyeing, and tie dyeing. Women’s dance skirts are up to nine yards in length, being wound several times around the body and folded down over a belt.
In terms of age, most surviving raffia textiles from Zaire rarely exceed 100 years. Cloth which dates from the turn of the century is considered old, although there are examples in European collections which date back to the middle of the 17th century.
A 16th Century Portuguese painting of the Annunciation depicts the Virgin and the angel kneeling on one of these embroidered raffia cloth with a typical Kongo design.
More recently their mastery of abstract patterning was a source of inspiration to artists such as Klee, and Matisse, who displayed part of his large collection on the wall of his studio.
Artistically, the Kuba surround themselves with a sophisticated vocabulary of elaborate decorative patterns which are found in architecture, basketry, carved objects, female body scarification and textiles.
The continued survival of the techniques in an age where most Kuba people wear factory produced cloth for everyday dress is mainly due to the importance of embroidered and appliqué cloth in funeral celebrations.
Fabric production suggests that traditionally only natural dyes have been used, in fact both natural and synthetic dyes are used and the range of color includes orange, yellow, red, brown, black and purple.
Kuba apparently believe that they would not be recognised by their clan ancestors in the land of the dead unless they were The Quality of workmanship in many of the textiles produced in the Kasaai region today is not what it once was.
However newly woven cloths display the love of pattern and the remarkable design for which the Kuba have become known.
The mbal, is the plain square of undecorated raffia cloth, woven by men on a type of upright single-heddle loom. Although men also do some of the many cloth decorating techniques, the most laborious and prestigious type of cloth decoration, cut-pile embroidery, is only produced by women. The raffia thread is prepared by the use of local plant dyes which produced shades of red, blue, black, and yellow. A needle is used to insert a strand of raffia into the plain square of cloth in such a way that it goes under a crossover between a single warp and weft thread, then is drawn up again until the end of the strand on the cloth surface is only one or two millimetres long. Using a small very sharp knife the strand is cut equally close to the cloth leaving two very short tufts. There is no knot, it is simply the tightness of the weave that holds the stitch in place.
The process is repeated again and again until a linear block of the same colour has been completed. By rubbing over the tufts with the edge of a knife the ends are split and fluffed out so that the ground cloth is completely concealed by the pile.
It usually takes about a month of regular work for a woman to complete a small square of embroidery using this technique.
The designs used by women are drawn from a huge repertoire of known patterns, at least two hundred of which were identified by name.
The same patterns were used on other Kuba art forms, including wood sculpture, metal-working, mat-making, and women’s body scarification.
Today large numbers of these textiles are exported to Europe and the USA.
The men are responsible for the the weaving of raffia cloth, but once the cloth is complete it is the responsibility of women to prepare it for decoration.
The process includes gathering and preparing the raffia fibers for weaving and embroidery, weaving the basic cloth unit, dyeing the embroidery fibers, and embellishing the woven cloth with embroidery, applique, patchwork and dye.
After the fibers are gathered and stripped by hand or with the aid of a stripping comb, the basic cloth unit is produced by men on a single heddle loom.
The loom consists of a heddle bar and two horizontal bars between which the warp fibers are extended and secured in groups of fibers or hanks. The lower bar is fixed. Suspended from the upper bar is a cross beam supported by two poles.
The embroidered cloths may be divided into three types: cut pile embroideries, uncut embroideries and cut or open work embroideries.
We have an excellent supply of various qualities of Kuba cloth,and many years of experience in working with the various Kuba textiles to produce fine finished products.
To care for your Kuba textile Products ,we suggest only dry cleaning with a cleaner who has experience with working with delicate hand made textiles.
Take care of your kuba textile product.It will take good care of you.