Africa is world famous for its wildlife, but there’s another side of it that the world knows little about — and that’s the rich diversity of textiles dating back centuries.

Also, Africans wore cloth as fine as silk, woven from spiders’ webs or intricately patterned cloth from mud dyes.

“Textiles from the continent are the greatest gifts of art to the world,” says Alan Donovan, who has put together a rich collection for the Nairobi Serena, including pieces from his private collection.

Donovan probably has the most extensive collection of things African, having been at it for over four decades. 

He started the first pan-African fashion house in Nairobi with the late Joseph and Sheila Murumbi, aptly called The African Heritage, in the 1970s. Remnants of it still exist under the name African Heritage Design Company Ltd.

Most of Africa’s vanishing textiles are now in museums and private collections belonging mainly to European and American collectors.

“They are just too labour-intensive to make and the art is being lost because sons and daughters no longer follow in the steps of their elders,” says Mr Donovan.

Whole traditional industries have disappeared in the past four decades. Today, one of the best collections of African textiles in the world is at the Seattle Museum of Arts in the US, bequeathed by Katherine White. An important collection, though on a much smaller scale in Africa, is at the Nairobi Serena Hotel.

The lobby on each of the five floors features textiles from across Africa, including beadwork, sculptures and gold weights using the lost wax process that are fast going out of production.

East Africans are most familiar with the khanga. But the khanga arrived on the east coast of Africa only in the 15th century, with the advent of Portuguese sailors who used them as handkerchiefs, which they traded with the Swahili at the coast. Swahili women sewed the pieces of cloth together to drape around themselves.

Khangas were originally printed in India and later in China, with many now being printed locally. Hence, even though the khanga is very much African, it is not strictly local and does not feature in the African textile collection at the Nairobi Serena. 
But a few khangas have been placed in a permanent exhibition of Swahili Treasures at the Murumbi Gallery at the Kenya National Archives. 
Decorative art

Framed pieces of cloth hang on the walls, which for many people are simply decorative works of art. But a closer glimpse reveals a fascinating history of Africa’s ancient textile industry.

A beautiful piece of cloth called the Lamba Mena from Madagascar makes for a fascinating narration. It’s fine raw silk dyed with natural colours that the Merino wove not only to wear themselves but to wrap their ancestors in.

They also used to change the wrapping every seven years when the ancestors are re-introduced to the people. As signature pieces, the artists signed their fabrics in beads. The Merino are also famous for the woven raffia (the world’s largest leaf from palm trees) and cotton textiles.

“The Merino of the Malagasy Highlands weave cloth of raffia and sometimes mixed it with other material like cotton, pineapple strands and even spider webs. They used virtually everything to weave with,” says Donovan.
Climbing a floor higher is the Timbuktu treasure trove. Timbuktu, once a flourishing town from trade in salt, gold, ivory, slaves and Islamic books became a part of the Mali empire early in the 13th century. It was the centre for Islamic learning and had many libraries and manuscripts.
In the 15th century, nomads of the Sahara called the Tuareg took control of the town for a few centuries. Being nomadic, they live on the saddle, which they decorate profusely as well as their tents and other items. Donovan points to a fabulous leather bag with a blue dye:  “it’s called the passport bag,” he says. A picture shows the Tuareg man atop his camel sitting on an equally stunning saddle. Included in the collection is a necklace of intricate Tuareg silver with 300-year old carnelian agate beads traded across the Sahara from Germany.

On the same floor is West African tribe, and the biggest – the Fulani. The picture shows a finely adorned man with eyes rolled in opposite directions. “It’s a male beauty contest and the men take months to adorn themselves,” explains Donovan. The winner has to roll his eyes in different directions to a point when a female judge faints. “It still happens,” says Donovan.

“This is the Mali mud cloth, called Bokolonfini,” continues Donovan. It was once a “looked down” upon cloth for peasants, but has now morphed into a national identity for Mali. It’s a long painstaking and laborious process to make the cloth. It is woven by men on a narrow strip loom, which they carry around.

“Women use wider looms because they are mostly at home,” explains Alan.

After the cloth is washed and allowed to shrink while drying, it is then soaked in a brown solution made from pounded Bougalan tree leaves and other special ingredients. The cloth takes on an even yellow colour that is ready for application of mud dye designs.

The mud process is in itself fascinating. Mud is collected from the deepest sections of ponds and left to ferment in covered pots for a year. It turns black. The potted mud is diluted with water when needed.

Traditionally, the designs, patterns and motifs have clearly defined names or meanings and certain patterns were used to protect women from harm.

Further frames reveal the Kuba cloth, one of the most magnificent embroidered and applique fabric of the Kuba people of the Congo and the best-known example of the ancient African tradition of raffia cloth weaving.

“The abstract patterns on the Kuba cloth inspired artists such as Picasso, and Matisse,” says Donovan [Matisse even had Kuba cloth on the walls of his studio].

There are more than 200 patterns  used on other Kuba art forms, including wood sculpture, metalworking, mat making, and on women’s bodies.

Even today, the Kuba believe that good quality and correctly patterned raffia dress is key to being recognised by clan ancestors in the land of the dead. Families collect the cloth to pass on to their children.

The Internet is bare of information on African textiles and crafts,” says Donovan. Neither is any one of Africa’s textiles on the UNESCO cultural heritage list, such as the Lefkara needlework and lace embroidery.

The Cyprus lace has been produced by hand in the same village for several hundred years now. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), the Italian artist, visited Lefkara around 1480 and commissioned a large tablecloth incorporating a unique design, which has since then been known as the “Da Vinci design”.

He donated the embroidered tablecloth to Milan Cathedral, where the original remained until it was replaced due to damage 15 years ago.

The listing of the Lefkara embroidery and lace as a UNESCO cultural heritage in 2009 has enabled funding for its marketing and production, with young people being taught the skills. Africa needs to wake up before all its unique arts are lost forever. 

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