Bogolanfini
ボゴランフィニ（泥染布） / traditional–present / Technique / Textile Traditions
Bamana cloth from Mali is drawn with fermented river mud. Iron reacting with plant dye yields a black-and-cream geometry that records story and protection.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Mud-dyed black and cream
- Hand-drawn geometry
- Signs that tell stories
- Each cloth unique
Best used for
- One-off cloth or walls made from hand-drawn geometry and earth color
- Small-run textiles and interiors where the process itself is the value
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Skip lettering, embed signs as members of the pattern itself
- Composition
- Divide the cloth into bands, changing the geometric unit per band
- Material
- Plant dye ground, fermented mud drawn on to split black from cream
- Caution
- Printing the mud cloth motifs removes the bleeding and tonal variation that the dye and iron reaction produces, and with it the reason each cloth is unique.
- Further study
- Women's transmission in the San region / Chris Seydou and modernization / fashion's borrowings and giving back
Related entries
- Kente (ケンテ)Same Textile Traditions lineage.Compare Bogolanfini and Kente
- Arts and Crafts (アーツ・アンド・クラフツ)Shared effects: Intimacy / Nostalgia.Compare Bogolanfini and Arts and Crafts
More from Textile Traditions
Continue through styles in the same Textile Traditions family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Tapa (Barkcloth) (タパ)Shared effects: Intimacy / Trust.
- Adire (アディレ)Shared effects: Intimacy / Trust.
- Shibori (絞り染め)Shared effects: Intimacy / Nostalgia.
Browse all Textile Traditions entries
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/bogolanfini
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