Korhogo Cloth from the Cote d'Ivoire

Note:
With the high cost of shipping many of our customers choose to ship by USPS. For small and light shipments this is usually less expensive, but please be aware that their estimates are often wrong and their service can be very slow (sixteen days for Priority Mail from Philadelphia to New York City recently). The service is not always as economical as it may appear, particularly on larger or more valuable shipments. USPS estimates only include insurance up to $100 for its domestic shipments. If you ask for full insurance we will recalculate the shipping cost and send you an invoice for any difference in cost. For overseas shipments USPS will not insure for over $650. On request we can get estimates for overseas shipping from DHL.

Korhogo Cloth from the Cote d'Ivoire

Per Wikipedia:

Korhogo cloth is an African textile made by the Senufo people of Korhogo, Ivory Coast. Often described as being in the shadows of bogolafini (mud cloth) and kente,[1] korhogo comes in neutral and earthy tones like browns, blacks and creams. Korhogo is made by hand painting designs on hand woven and hand spun cotton fabric. The paintings are done using a specially fermented mud-based and natural vegetal pigment[2] that darkens over time, and designs are usually drawn on using a stencil.[3] They are decorated with symbols of humans, natural elements like the sun, moon and stars and animals, all of which are rooted in Senufo culture and mythology. The Senufo use the cloth as a shield against vengeful spirits by wearing or hanging them in homes/shrines. Korhogo is commissioned for hunters (important heroic figures) and rite of passage events like funerals/special ceremonies.

Men and women are involved in the fabrication of the cloth. Both cultivate the cotton, the women spin the cotton into yarn and prepare the dye while men weave and decorate the cloth. Upon completion, the fabric is often used for clothing, decor and many more.

This type of cloth came to being in the late 1960s and early 1970s and remains popular with tourists and urban Ivorians today. Eager to sustain Senufo traditions and help expand the local market, American Peace Corps volunteers encouraged the people to explore new means of clothing production. Fila cloth consisted of six stripes of cotton cloth that had been sewn together[4] and served as the prototype for which korhogo was built upon. Fila is mostly decorated with hand painted stripes as its primary motif and zig-zag designs symbolic of the leopard.[2] To preserve fila's traditional characteristics, Korhogo cloth producers continued to use hand spun cotton strips woven by their Dyula neighbors. However, unlike fila, Korhogo cloth quickly became the canvas onto which cloth producers painted a large variety of imagery derived from the local society and culture. The earliest examples of Korhogo cloth have fila strips which were used as the grid where visual motifs would be painted.[2]

Last Updated:

June 12, 2023

c.1970 Korhogo Cloth from the Cote d'Ivoire

Korhogo Cloth from the Cote d'Ivoire, c.1970

SKU: KGO-2301

Senufo people

Ivory Coast

Design hand-painted with mineral pigment on hand-spun and strip-woven white cotton fabric by Senufo artists (approx. 28" l. x 46" w.). Depicts Guinea fowl, fish and antelope flanking a tree.
Current owner purchased in the Ivory Coast in 1972-1973.

$395

We are in the process of uploading items that have been sold, but which may be of interest to our customers.