#Vlisco

[aworldofpattern]

Floral-patterned Grand Super-Wax fabric by Vlisco

'A more exclusive version of Super-Wax, rich in colours and bubbling, and printed with a gloss finish. The most defining (and beloved) feature of a Super-Wax is its duo-colour “bubbling” print effect...

...Grand Super-Wax is a luxurious twist on the original, using Vlisco cotton satin. Grand Super-Wax is made using a highly-unique wax printing technique unlike any other in the world: every piece is created with an unequalled and extraordinary level of care and precision.

First, a design in liquid wax is printed on cotton satin. A base dye such as indigo soaks into the cloth around the wax, leaving behind a deep, intense colour. The magic of the ‘wax-breaking’ during the printing process results in a large, irregular pattern of vein-like bubbles throughout the design.

One single piece of Grand Super-Wax goes through an average of 27 total step before it receives a final gloss finish, and a select number of Grand Super-Wax fabrics are covered from edge-to-edge in transparent glitter.'

[comicalfellow]

Yinka Shonibare in Lisse Art Museum (LAM)

Historically inspired costumes with Vlisco-style fabrics.

[ratatoskrr]

I made these black woollen trousers to go with these two tops I made earlier. The trouser pockets are the same Vlisco fabric as the asymmetric top. The fabric of the blouse might be real silk(?), but I got it secondhand for 3 euros! It reminds me of a map, and I love the green on gold.

Trouser pattern is from Knipmode, october 2019, asymmetric top from Jen Hewett's Print, Pattern, Sew (but I added the pleat), and the blouse pattern is Bruna from La Maison Victor with just the collar stand instead of the regular collar.

[soapdispensersalesman]

Forgot to bring fancy shoes to the Dutch Film Festival gala

[soapkaars]

I wanted to draw Felix again and dress him up (he's wearing a jacket inspired by one i have)

[canis-majoris]

[angstandhappiness]

Gorgeous

Vlisco fabrics

[bricehammack]

NoTextingAndWalking

NewYorkCity

Manhattan

MuseumAtFIT

@museumatFIT

AfricasFashionDiaspora

AngelinaVliscoPrint

Vlisco

Netherlands

WaxPrint

Dashikis

BriceDailyPhoto

[ausetkmt]

The Vlisco Group designs, produces and distributes fashion fabrics, especially of the African wax print style, for the West and Central African market and African consumers in global metropolitan cities. Founded in Helmond, the Netherlands, in 1846, the Vlisco Group and their fabrics have grown into an essential part of African culture, receiving widespread attention from the art, design and fashion worlds. Vlisco Group's brand portfolio consists of four brands: Vlisco, Woodin, Uniwax and GTP. The company's head office, as well as the design and production facilities for the Vlisco brand, are located in Helmond. For the other brands these facilities are based in Ghana and Ivory Coast. The Vlisco Group has eight sales offices in numerous African countries and around 2,700 employees (900 in The Netherlands and 1,800 in Africa).

History

Vlisco textile with crystals

Vlisco Group was founded in 1846, when Pieter Fentener van Vlissingen bought an existing textile printing factory and named it P. Fentener van Vlissingen & co., aiming to produce and sell hand printed fabrics in- and outside of the Netherlands.[1]: 27  Originally, production included handkerchiefs, bedspreads, chintz and furniture fabrics. In the second half of the 19th century, Fentener van Vlissingen started exporting imitation batiks to what was then called the Dutch East Indies after he was told by his uncle that there was a pressing need for affordable fabrics. Thanks to the invention of roller printing, it was possible to recreate the batik look a lot less labour-intensively, which meant that Fentener van Vlissingen could produce it quicker and sell it cheaper than local craftsmen could. This was also its only selling point, as the Indonesians did not care for the too even look of the imitation batiks.[1]: 28–30 

That Fentener van Vlissingen's fabrics came to West Africa is rather logical. Once the Dutch East Indies banned imitation batiks, Fentener van Vlissingen had to search for a new market to sell his goods. Since the start, the company has produced and sold hand-printed textiles both domestically and abroad. Around 1852, the VOC Dutch East Indies trade routes became involved in the export of the hand-printed Vlisco fabrics. The fabrics were used for bartering during stopovers in Western Africa. Since the Dutch had been dealing in European luxury goods with West-Africans since the Late Middle Ages, it seemed a logical step to move selling activities to that region. Another reason is that the fabrics sold in Indonesia had become popular among the Belanda Hitam, Ghanaian soldiers who served in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and returned home between 1837 and 1872.[1]: 30 

By the time the 20th century rolled around, West- and Central Africa were growing into a booming textile market and by the 1930s the 'wax hollandais' cloth's designs were being adapted to local tastes.[2]

In 1927 the company changed its name to Vlisco, a contraction of Vlissingen & co., but the fabrics were by then widely known as 'Dutch Wax' or 'Wax Hollandais', and those names stuck. During World War II, production was stopped and the finished fabrics could not be shipped to the African markets. The African fabric markets were starved of Dutch Wax for the entirety of the war and when in 1945 Vlisco managed to send a shipment of a fabric called 'Six Bougies' , it was an immediate success.[1]: 30  So much so, that from 1963 onwards, all Vlisco fabrics have the text 'Guaranteed Dutch Wax Vlisco' stamped on the side, because the fabrics were and still are widely counterfeited.

Unlike the Vlisco brand, the entire process – from design to production and distribution – for the Woodin, Uniwax and GTP brands takes place in Africa. When, in the mid-1960s, the import duties on printed textiles were doubled in several Western African countries, a percentage of imports were replaced by local production. This led to the establishment of the GTP (Ghana Textiles Printing Company) brand in 1966, with production taking place at a factory in Ghana, and the establishment of Uniwax in 1970, with production facilities in the Ivory Coast (Koert van, Robin, Dutch Wax Design Technology: van Helmond naar West-Afrika, 2008). The pan-African brand Woodin has been produced in both the GTP and Uniwax factories since 1985. Furthermore, Vlisco made a historical decision in 1993 by abandoning hand printing, to be able to produce fabric on a larger scale.[3]

Over time, The Vlisco brand has developed a highly sophisticated production process, whereby the fabric goes through 27 treatments, both by machine and by hand, and takes two weeks to produce. This process is a closely guarded secret. Since 2006, the company has been aiming at high end markets and is currently preparing to release a ready to wear fashion line.[4]

The Vlisco Group carries four brands: Vlisco, Woodin, Uniwax and GTP. Each of these brands has its own style, brand identity and consumer target group. Four times a year, the Group launches a new collection of fashion fabrics under their premium luxury flagship brand Vlisco, designed and produced in Helmond. Since it was established in 1846, Vlisco designs and fabrics, have grown to become an essential part of African style culture, with deep-rooted influences across all layers of society. Uniwax and GTP are designed and produced in Ivory Coast and Ghana and focus on the growing middle class in West and Central Africa. Woodin is the smallest, but fastest-growing brand in Vlisco Group's brand portfolio. At this moment, 60% of the population in West- and Central Africa is under 25 years old. This segment is growing, extremely connected via social media and mobile devices and show fast changes in consumer behavior regarding to lifestyle, fashion and media usage. The lifestyle brand Woodin focusses on this consumer group.

Postcolonial criticism

Critics, such as Tunde Akinwumi, feel that Vlisco's origins are misleading, especially since the company profiles itself as the 'originator of African Wax'. Akinwumi's 2008 article, 'The "African Print" Hoax', argues that producers of African prints mislead customers by pretending to sell authentic African designs, while they are in fact based on Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Arabic and European imagery. Therefore, he advocates a new African aesthetic, based on traditional African fabrics, such as kente, adire, aso oke and bogolanfini, and expresses hope that textile producers and governments will support this cause and help change Africa's image to a more authentic one.

In his book Vlisco, Jos Arts, however, represents the counter critics, who are of the opinion that critics like Akinwumi have misunderstood a main principle of fashion, namely that it is subject to constant change and therefore even though Vlisco's fabrics were initially not authentically African, the century-long process of appropriation and mutual influence ensures that it has become so.[5]: 92 

In the realms of art, Vlisco fabrics are extensively used by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, who dresses headless mannequins in baroque gowns and suits, to challenge Western colonial history.[5]: 10 

Symbolism

Vlisco fabrics are given an interesting form of symbolism, which allows African women to speak out, yet stay silent. Once a fabric has been designed and shipped, it is given a name which often ties into local sayings by the saleswomen. An example of this is a fabric with a print of open bird-cages and two birds flying out, that goes by the title "Si tu sors, je sors" (You leave, I leave), which means to say "If you think this marriage is something you can take and leave as you please, I will do the same." Other fabrics are known as 'Come to my bedroom wearing your slippers' or 'Kofi Annan's brain". What is important to consider in all this is that this kind of symbolism is only possible both because the messages are open to multiple interpretations and the fabrics are worn as dresses, and no one can divorce or attack a woman for wearing a pretty dress.

[ichbinmeineeigenepuppe]

Was passsiert !

[xtrablak674]

Ronavations continued

After all the time I spend in my home especially over the last fifteen to twenty years, the fact that I finally did the thing that it seems whyte folks talk about all the time, renovations. I previously spoke about my favorite spot in my home, but now I want to talk about a decorative feature that I came up with to top-off all of the improvements of my intimate space.

One thing that I think is important when you have an open floor plan or a space with no clear distinguishable rooms, you need to create areas and nooks within that space, forced delineations that guide your eye and your body to where to go or not to go.

A positive element of my studio space are my very high ceilings, my ceilings are nine feet high which gives the space a lot more openness and light than lower ceilings would. I wanted to emphasize this height and added more clearly defined areas in the apartment.

I recalled a friend of mine Larry Callahan who seemed to move all the time and in each space he inhibited he truly made the space his own, adding elements that were not originally envisioned for the space. Unlike me he has more technical abilities around construction and design being a costume designer. I didn't want my technical capabilities to limit what I wanted, I would simply higher a professional to execute my vision.

If I recall correctly I think my building was built in the twenties which means its about one hundred years old now. Part of the original moldings were in my unit when I first moved in in the late nineties. After the fire some of the elements were removed or replaced to restore the unit to livable conditions. I came to this knowledge not just from my unit, but having been in other units in my building and other units in some of the sister building around me.

I wanted there to be a break near the front door sort of restoring the original facade that was like a partial proscenium arch or the legs on a stage, the long fabric panels that denote wings in a theatre. I also knew I wanted to use African wax print fabric made by a Dutch company called Vlisco. I knew this wasn't an African company but the quality of their product and designs was frankly superior to some of the in-country designs and I wanted the best for this thousand dollar project. I knew the stiffness of the wax print would lend itself to being a panel. I use the term panel and not curtain because curtains have a tendency to be gathered or bunched up and I wanted a stiff free standing panel of fabric.

To assist in explaining this to Anthony my local tailor who I knew would be a perfect partner for the soft elements I wanted developed for my Ronavations, I put together a deck including screenshots, photos, measurements and reference samples of interiors similar to what I was looking for. But more than that I also worked out the complete construction of the fabric panels, utilizing velcro to adhere them to my walls and being weighted at the bottom to help them stay stiff and erect.

The back panel was primarily being used to mask my walk-in closet with bathroom (the room formerly known as the kitchen) but also give the wall a more finished look. With the lack of doors in my space there aren't clear separations of areas, the panel would let visitors clearly know this was another space and not necessarily one that I wanted folks to wander into sort of the inner sanctum of my apartment.

I was very pleased with the final product once I got over some bumps with Tony fucking up some of the initial panels, which I wanted a large unbroken piece of fabric for some reason he had cut certain piece and then realizing his error put them back together. Meaning I had to order more of this very not-cheap fabric for him to do it right the next time. Of course he ate the cost of that and eventually got it all right.

There are several sets of these panels that I change as my mood desires, I also had cushion covers made in four primary colors that sort of match the base colors of the panels so that I can tie the colors together in the room. The best part of all of this was once again having a vision of something I wanted and realizing that vision.

As an artist I sometimes feel like if it isn't made by my hand its not my creation, and that isn't true. I am sure there are artist who do public sculptures or community murals who are the ones holding the vision for the product and ensuring that it is executed to the parameters that they for saw it. It is the mind behind this creativity that creates the art. And makes me understand why some of my friends feel like my apartment is a museum to my creativity because I have had such a clear hand in designing it in a way that was comfortable and appealing to me.

[Photos by Brown Estate]

[ngosikadzistyle]

Ankara Fabric: How to buy it and the different types

HARARE – Ankara fabric got its name from a mispronunciation of the Capital or Ghana ACCRA which was central in popularizing this Dutch wax fabric. The fabric was trying to enter Indonesian markets and created a cheaper one, which was rejected by Indonesians but made its way into West African upper class and middle class culture. Beyoncé Knowles Carter in an Ankara designer suit Continue reading…

[orchres]

discovered the pattern maker in illustrator and now I'm making my own wax print cloth anwjwjwj

[haunting-housewife]

Daniel Obasi - An Alien in Town (2017)

Art direction, photography and styling - Daniel Obasi Models - Rebecca Fabunmi, Oke Tobi Subomi and Benita Ango Videography - Ugo Oparadike Videography assistant - Deji Adekoya Production assistant - ifeoma Kalu Composer - Emmanuel Ejidike Editor - Matuluko Robert Make- up Lauretta Orji Hair- Happiness Okon

[rachaelokeeffe]

her methods, materials, and stylistic influences, Akunyili Crosby shows a deep awareness of contemporary artists from Robert Rauschenberg to Kerry James Marshall, while her visual vocabularies suffuse intimate domestic scenes with the products and riotous patterns of her African homeland. Akunyili Crosby produces large-scale drawings and paintings, frequently of interiors that suggest familiar narratives but retain elements of mystery and ambiguity. These scenes are often directly inspired by the artist’s own experiences and memories, and are populated by her family members, friends, and people she has met or recalls from back home.

I particularly enjoy Crosbys use of photo transfers hidden and blended into patterns in her paintings. She makes deliberate and complex use of transfer prints, using a mineral-based solvent to transfer photocopied images from newspapers and product catalogues, magazines and books, onto the support. (Rauschenberg used this technique to great effect in his work starting in the late 1950s.) Akunyili Crosby layers these transfers, creating dense patterns that may move from a figure to parts of a piece of furniture, a background wall, a carpet, or an architectural element, creating an atmosphere of tension and instability. The transferred images are drawn from a wide variety of sources, ranging from colonial-era portraiture through recent popular culture to the intricately detailed Dutch wax-print fabrics produced by the Dutch manufacturer Vlisco for the African market, and they often directly reference Nigerian and African-diaspora culture.

[emmaklee]

African wax print

[vlisco]