A yam will have been cut into small pieces and left indoors when the yam cutting begins to sprout (like an old potato) then it will be transferred to one of the little mounds to allow it to grow until harvest time.Īll the patterns created by the Dagaaba women weavers are based on one original template, Kankan, that mimics the feathers of the Guinea fowl. ![]() Village chiefs from all around line up to make speeches, relatives return from far flung places, and everyone enjoys an enormous two-day party.Īll across our district you’ll see small fields with rows of little foot-high mounds. Everyone dresses up to the nines, and dance troupes from right across Ghana gather to out-perform each other. The Big Event of our year is the harvest festival celebrations in our hometown. Our head weaver Grace points at the vapour trails as they score the sky and wistfully says ‘one day I fly in the aeroplane’. Many villages still have no electricity, so the light of the moon creates a floodlit stage for the children to sing and play.Īlthough our hometown in Ghana is a sixteen-hour bus trip to the nearest airport, when we look at the sky on a clear day we occasionally see airplanes from Europe fly high in the sky as they make their way to the capital Accra. When a full moon (kyuupilla) rises and illuminates a village, the children of the community will come out and sing special songs. As evening falls, ribbons of low flames scatter across the savannah creating a pattern of reds against the darks of the scorched earth.įirst light reveals the women of the household, usually with a broom made of grasses in their hand, sweeping and cleaning as the inky blue-black of the African night gives way to the first rays and filtering white light of a brand new day. A pattern bearing bold stripes is often worn by our chief, or ‘naa’, and we’ve created this striking pattern in his honour.Īfter harvesting is done the farmers of the Dagaaba region will burn back the crops as they prepare their fields for the next farming season. They will coordinate their movements to create the best opportunities for success, and also to protect each other should the hunter becomes the hunted.Ī traditional smock is worn by many inhabitants of our hometown in north Ghana as they go about their everyday lives. In dry season hunters will gather in groups (known as ‘yuoro’) to track wildlife. Fences to keep out hungry animals will be created by piling up brushwood, and across the dusty landscape you will see these little pens that corral essential vegetables and root crops. It is highly laborious and requires the whole community to participate if it is to be a success. In dry season some farmers will continue to grow small amounts of crops by using a purpose built well. The pattern of Blue Savannah depicts the sky as it is reflected in the streams, brooks and irrigation channels that pop up across the farmland. This traditional pattern, originally based on the plumage of the guineafowl, is named in her honour.Įvery April in northern Ghana rains begin to sweep across the scorched savannah, and the horizon is transformed as precious crops begin to re-emerge from the soil. Annamala means ‘it shall be well’, and it’s the name of our Production Assistant’s new baby girl. Deliberation will take a while as the baby’s character develops and weeks will pass before a suitable name is chosen. When a child is born in the Dagaaba region the community will be called upon to provide a name. ![]() Our traditional patterns refer to local customs or an aspect of the savannah landscape of north west Ghana Sister Beatrice Kankan Blue Songtaa Grace’s Sky Soosoo Water Porter Rivercorn First Ribbins Palm Shell Last Letter Flooding Moon Savannah Tracks Kankan Cerise Chief of Naa Chase Langtaa Madam Kollyboo Ember Plains Brushwood Pen Kudoog See Me See You Rhyme Fields Kankan Viridian Hilltop Volga Sunset Kankan Sage Village Path Kankan Port Harvest Bounce Xylophone Night Passage Rainchild Blue Savannah Little Cob Field Neem Tree Anamaala Raindrop Forest Boon & Up fabric passes 50,000 rubs on the Martindale test, and has also passed the flammability ‘cigarette test’ (BS5852:Part 1:1979:Source 0). To complete the story, we have dyed all our cotton a range of colours that reference the hues that the local Dagaare people paint their huts and houses.Īll Boon & Up fabric is handwoven to a width of 110cm, and is 100% combed cotton, hand-grown by smallholder African farmers. ![]() Our hand-grown and carbon-neutral African cotton is woven on handlooms by women of the Dagaaba people, and our patterns are all based on a traditional template that mimics the feathers of the Guinea fowl. Boon & Up’s fabrics are created in the small rural town of Lawra in the far north of Ghana.
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