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Strips of woven cloth with named geometric blocks.
Also known as: Kente cloth, Nwentoma, Akan strip cloth, Woven strips with blocks
Kente is woven in narrow strips on a men's double-heddle loom and sewn edge to edge, and each pattern has a name and an associated proverb — the cloth is read, not just worn. Certain patterns were historically reserved to royalty and their use was controlled.
Denotes Akan strip-woven cloth from Ghana, made in narrow bands on a double-heddle loom and sewn together edge to edge.
Contexts: History
Carries named patterns each associated with a proverb, a historical event or a person, so a cloth communicates rather than only decorating.
Contexts: History
Included patterns historically reserved for royalty, whose use was restricted, and that restriction is part of what particular designs mean.
Contexts: History
Is widely worn in the African diaspora, particularly at graduations in the United States, a use distinct from its Akan one.
Contexts: History
Narrow woven bands sewn side by side, each carrying alternating blocks of warp-faced and weft-faced geometric pattern in strong yellow, green, red, blue and black.