Adire
アディレ / 19th century– / Technique / Textile Traditions
The indigo resist cloth of Yoruba women: raffia ties and cassava-paste painting and stenciling reserve white patterns against deep indigo, weaving proverbs and signs into the contrast.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Indigo-and-white resist patterns
- Cassava-paste hand painting
- Grid-divided imagery
- A sign system holding proverbs
Best used for
- Making white pattern carry narrative with indigo as the only color
- Dividing a cloth into fields and weaving meaning from arrayed signs
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Treat each sign as a unit of proverb, one to a field
- Composition
- Grid the cloth and rotate fields so repetition never sits still
- Material
- Cassava paste laid by hand or stencil, dipped in indigo, then washed off
- Caution
- Repeating the motifs as pattern without knowing what they say breaks the system of proverbs and leaves only indigo decoration.
- Further study
- the dyers of Abeokuta / the olokun pattern / revival in contemporary fashion
Related entries
- Batik (バティック（ジャワ更紗）)Same Textile Traditions lineage.Compare Adire and Batik
- Kanga (カンガ)Same Textile Traditions lineage.Compare Adire and Kanga
Often confused with
More from Textile Traditions
Continue through styles in the same Textile Traditions family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Tapa (Barkcloth) (タパ)Shared effects: Intimacy / Calm / Trust.
- Bogolanfini (ボゴランフィニ（泥染布）)Shared effects: Intimacy / Trust.
- Kente (ケンテ)Shared effects: Trust.
Browse all Textile Traditions entries
Cite this entry
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- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/adire
- Markdown
- [Adire — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/adire)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/adire">Adire — IndexStyle</a>