Akwete
アクウェテ織 / late 19th century–present / Style / Textile Traditions
A textile developed by Igbo women in Akwete, southeastern Nigeria. Broad upright looms and supplementary weft build named chevrons, diamonds, animals, and apparent bands into dense fields of vivid color and occasional metallic thread.
Heavy vertical and horizontal bands dividing the field / Supplementary-weft floats drawing chevrons, diamonds, and animals / Narrow shifts among saturated purple, orange, green, red, and black / Internal repeats and boundary lines making one broad cloth resemble joined strips
Dictionary entry
- Best used for
- Layering named geometry across a wide ceremonial wrapper or garment · Using band repetition and supplementary-weft floats as the organizing rule for textile, interior, or publication work
- Type
- Name the pattern, place, and weaver; do not substitute unrelated pan-African display lettering.
- Composition
- Divide a broad ground into three to five vertical bands, then cross them with supplementary-weft rhythms and localized figures.
- Material
- Float contrasting cotton or rayon wefts over a ground weave, reserving metallic thread for a few focal points.
- Caution
- Do not call generic geometry Akwete. Identify Igbo women weavers, pattern names, place, and circulation; never trace an existing cloth for merchandise without permission.
- Further study
- Dada Nwakwata and late nineteenth-century Akwete weaving / Akwete Women's Weaving Cooperative / named patterns, supplementary weft and wrapper use
Related entries
- Kente (ケンテ)Same Textile Traditions lineage.Compare Akwete and Kente
- Bogolanfini (ボゴランフィニ（泥染布）)Same Textile Traditions lineage.Compare Akwete and Bogolanfini
More from Textile Traditions
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Cite this entry
The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.
- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/akwete
- Markdown
- [Akwete — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/akwete)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/akwete">Akwete — IndexStyle</a>