Guinea: A Textile Civilization in Four Systems
Guinea: A Textile Civilization in Four Systems By Mariama Camara & Oury Sene King of Kindia, c.1910, with two wives in Basse-Guinée textiles (tie-dye, weaving, embroidery). Courtesy of Duncan Clarke, antique postcard and African textile dealer. Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is rarely understood through its material systems. It is more often described through […]
Material Literacy: The Knowledge in Cloth
Mariama Camara on authorship, ownership, and the distance between admiration and accountability.
Kibonen and the Business of Cultural Authority
How a Cameroonian designer turned a single garment into a cultural and economic system—from New York to Cairo
Inside Central Saint Martins’ Makers Camp: West African Makers in Focus
For two weeks, the conservatory room of Mason & Fifth became an experimental studio of collective making.
Why the Wrapper Remains West Africa’s Undecolonized Garment
The wrapper predates colonial borders and outlives fashion cycles. It is one of the continent’s most enduring systems, and one of the few
Out of Zimbabwe, a Streetwear Brand With Deeper Intentions
Lesley Manokore makes streetwear. Hoodies, jerseys, graphic-driven capsule drops,
Between the Algorithm and the Altar
None of it has disappeared — the bridewealth, the communal celebration, the ceremony. But in the 2020s, something is shifting fast.
Maputo’s Modernist Moment
Between the late 1940s and the early 1960s, in the city then called Lourenço Marques, a generation of architects produced a body of work
Three African Knowledge Systems on the Loewe Craft Prize 2026 Shortlist
The 2026 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize shortlist runs thirty finalists from nineteen countries. Three of them work with African craft traditions as method
Kusi Kubi on PALMWINE IceCREAM SS26, Craft, and His Mother’s Wardrobe
PALMWINE IceCREAM, the Ghana–London brand led by designer Kusi Kubi, released its SS26 campaign this week