Adinkra and Akunitan Cloths from Ghana

Adinkra is a unique fabric hand printed with black dye patterns using stamps made from calabash. Complete adinkra cloths in good condition with any age are now quite hard to source in Ghana. Akunitan means “cloth of the great” and is the Asante name for a type of embroidered cloth worn only by senior chiefs and kings. Although created using machine embroidery/sewing machines on a woollen blanket fabric background, these spectacular cloths are still an extraordinary display of design and creativity. A second type of Akunitan had appliqued figures on a wool ground.