Where does Aso oke (hand-woven cloth) come from?
Aso oke comes from Yorubaland in south-west Nigeria. Yoruba weavers, traditionally men, weave it in narrow strips that are sewn together into prestige cloth for gowns, caps, wrappers and head-ties, and the town of Iseyin is its great weaving centre.
Cloth from the hill
The name is loosely translated as 'cloth from above' or 'cloth from the hill', a hint of the cloth's high standing; its older name is òfì. Yoruba men weave it on narrow looms in long strips about four inches (10 cm) wide, which are cut and stitched together into a whole cloth. Captain Adams, who sailed to the region between 1786 and 1800, wrote in a book of 1823 that the cloth made in Oyo was superior to any made in the neighbouring states.
Etu, sanyan and alaari
In the early 1900s three prestige cloths stood at the heart of the tradition. Etu is indigo so deep it is almost black, dyed in many dips in fresh pots of indigo, with fine pale stripes; its name means guinea fowl, after the bird's speckled feathers. Sanyan is woven from the beige silk of local Anaphe moth cocoons. Alaari is woven with magenta silk that, until the early 20th century, came across the Sahara from southern Europe by way of Tripoli.
Why people think of Ghana
Strip weaving, in which narrow woven bands are sewn into a larger cloth, is a tradition shared by many West African peoples. Aso oke also travels: other Nigerians wear it too, as do people in nearby countries such as Ghana and Togo. A textile specialist suggests one reason it is less famous abroad than some other African cloths: the sheer variety of colours and styles Yoruba weavers have explored. Since the 1990s, more and more women have taken up the weaving.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org › Aso oke ↗ · en.wikipedia.org › Iseyin ↗ · collections.vam.ac.uk ↗ · adireafricantextiles.com ↗
