Tapestry repurposed from Kuba cloth textile

This week’s New Arrival features an innovative, one-of-a-kind tapestry made from a ceremonial textile called Kuba Cloth. The original textile comes from the Kuba Kingdom deep inside the Republic of Congo in Central Africa. Considered one of the most collectible textiles in the entire world, Kuba cloth begins its life as the leaf of the raffia palm tree before it is transformed into the kingdom’s most visible form of wealth, status, and finery.

The unique improvised patterning of Kuba cloth has been likened to jazz

The transformation from leaf to textile is easy to understand, but difficult to execute. Discarded leaves are gathered, dried, softened, dyed, and stripped down to individual fibers before being woven into panels or strips that are then embroidered. All of this is a collaborative effort between Kuba artisans, but teamwork isn’t what makes Kuba cloth so valuable and collectible.  Instead, it is the stunning abstract geometric designs embroidered on the finished cloth.

Kuba designs have been compared to jazz, perhaps because patterns are commonly improvised. Countless tiny stitches embroidered on the surface of the cloth delineate the designs. This takes both time and talent, but the patience and skill of the artisans is often overshadowed by the sheer size of the cloth itself. Kuba cloth can exceed twenty feet in length, making any individual piece impressive, but especially difficult to display. The original cloth used to create this week’s New Arrival was crafted long ago as a body wrap, a type of finery in Kuba society. Its deep red color was derived from a local substance called twool, which the Kuba believe has magical, protective properties. The design is one-of-a-kind; the patina of the cloth is soft and pleasing; and its further transformation from wrap to tapestry gives it new life as meaningful adornment for the wall as opposed to the body.

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