African Textiles: Colour And Creativity Across A Continent, John Gillow

African Textiles: Colour and Creativity Across a Continent is an encyclopaedic celebration of handcrafted textiles from every region of Africa, richly illustrated with over 570 vibrant colour photographs. Organised into chapters on West, North, East, Central and Southern Africa, it explores weaving techniques, looms, dye traditions and cultural contexts—from Ashanti strip-weaves and Yoruba lace weaves to Egyptian tapestry, Ethiopian bark cloth and Central African Kuba appliqué. Alongside the dazzling images, the volume delves into the roles of religion, trade, social identity and the evolving function of women in textile practices, offering both a visual feast and a rich resource—complete with glossary, map and museum collection guide.

Crafted with collector’s care, the layout balances glorious full-page spreads with precise technical captions and essays, revealing how cloth operates as both material object and cultural document. From the meditative geometry of mud cloth to the intricate beadwork of the Zulu, this book invites makers, scholars and curators to embrace textiles as living archives. Despite its continental breadth, it draws the reader into regional stories and artisanal methods—like stitched-resist dyeing and strip-weaving—rendering complex traditions in an accessible, visually rich narrative.

‘Spectacular … this book really does span a whole continent … a wealth of detail in this book which would be useful and fascinating for makers of all disciplines’ – Craftsman Magazine

‘This lovely book is a visual feast which enriches our knowledge of the textile crafts of Africa’ – The Textile Directory Online

About the Author
John Gillow is a distinguished textile scholar, collector and lecturer with over thirty years of field research across Africa. His extensive publications—including Indian Textiles, World Textiles and Textiles of the Islamic World—reflect a lifelong commitment to documenting global weaving traditions. Gillow combines scholarly rigour with aesthetic sensitivity, crafting a volume that not only showcases pattern and technique, but also honours the social, spiritual and artistic dimensions of African cloth.

Publication date: 2016
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9780500292211