Sample of Nigerian adire resist dyeing with fish and chevron pattern

This adire cloth was produced in Ibadan, Nigeria, and uses cassava starch paste as a resist to create the pattern using indigo dye. The technique is similar to other resist techniques such as batik, but using cassava starch instead of wax. This sample is now held in the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection but was originally collected by GB Ollivant Ltd, a company set up by Captain George Bent Ollivant in Manchester in 1858, to sell cotton goods in Africa. It’s likely the company collected samples of adire like this one to inspire their own designs to sell to West Africa. 

• Category: Samples and Commercial Textiles
• Date: 1901-1950
• Material: Cotton
• Place: Africa
• Technique: Dyeing
• Technique: Printing