This design experiments convert indigenous West African textile design elements from a limited application in clothing into a breadth of interior design pieces that are expected to have a wider appeal. Textile designing is an integral part of textile production in West Africa and by far the most predominant art practice in the region. Textile production techniques vary from one place to another in the region and some of the common techniques are tie-dyeing, tritik, batik, indigo dying, embroidery, patchwork, appliqué, discharge dyeing, direct printing and resist printing. Designs are developed from sources such as body paintings and tattooing, indigenous symbols, proverbs, occasions and major events, important personalities, natural and artificial objects. Other textile design forms have also evolved from textures produced by the actual processes of fabric construction and the effects of colour variations of yarns such as stripes, bars and checks. However, fabrics are designed mainly for clothing and to some extent craft items and that limits the patronage and application of those fabrics. Furthermore, the processes of designing and production are mainly manual and so reproduction or uniformity in mass productions and mass customisation is besieged with lots of challenges. These design experiments take a more comparative view of the indigenous West African fabrics and the central motifs in the design compositions are Adinkra and Adire and the background referenced Bogolanfini symbols. The human centred design approach was adopted for the practical experiments; it entails as a step-by-step guide to externalise creativity, taken cognisance of the people the designs are meant for. The background data came largely from documentation, archival records, and observation of physical artefacts. This project experiments with a breadth of materials such as lycra, canvas, soft velvet fabrics, foam, wood and techniques for a range of products such as retro chairs, cushions and wall panels.

This study investigates the costume styling and material composition of Effutu festival costumes. It is delimited to Effutu festival performance costumes. The qualitative design was adopted. The ethnography approach was employed through narrative analysis and oral history. Unstructured interviews and on-site direct observations were the qualitative data collection instrument used for the data collection. The narrative analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that historically costumes are seen as relics that can tell the story about the exploits and traditional mythologies of the communities. Again, costumes that materialise culture and identities do not just mirror pre-existing sets of ideas or symbolic systems but facilitate values as ‘they form part of an ethnohistorical repository of knowledge. The findings further revealed that, costume styling could be categorised into Royal, Ritual, Asafo (war/battle), Generational, Women ensembles (Adzewa costumes) and Fanciful costumes. The basic material composition of costumes includes fabrics (both applied and structural designs), leather, horsetail, metal helmets, pillows, kaolin, beads (plastic and glass), mpoboa (shoes), symbolic colours and other material collaboration. It is recommended that costumes used for the Effutu festival be recorded and digitalised for future reference.