As featured in May 1996
Home Is Where the Heart of Africa Is...
Interiors Capture the Spirit of a Continent
How do you capture the spirit of a continent? Which images do you choose to evoke Africa, an enormous land of 52 countries that covers over 11 million miles, encompasses deserts and forests, hills and plateaus, and is home to dozens of different people and heritages?
This daunting task was tackled by a team of designers when developing the L'Odyssee Africaine collection of African-inspired decorative wallpapers, borders, and fabrics, licensed by African Home, Incorporated, and produced in collaboration with Gramercy, a brand of FSC Wallcoverings, part of F. Schumacher & Company.
Cheryle Williams Dent and Kim Bressant-Kibwe of
African Home, Inc., the collection licensor (see African Home link above),
and Vivian Infante, Gramercy's director of design, spent weeks researching
designs in South Africa to ensure the authenticity of the collection.
After a 13-hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city, the team explored the Museum of Art and Museum Africa. They prowled local galleries and African arts and crafts shops, collecting a wealth of fabrics, carvings, drawings, baskets, pottery, jewelry and other source material that later served as inspiration for collection patterns.
The team also borrowed design concepts from Durban, a strikingly beautiful area known as "the land of 1,000 hills;" Venda and Warmbaths, famous for their mineral springs; and Papatso, site of a replica of a Ndebele village.
An indisputable highlight of the journey was a visit to a Zulu village, where a local craftsperson introduced the designers to the villagers, who invited them inside several kraals (native huts). "The Zulus keep separate--they don't take part in the contemporary culture in South Africa--yet they welcomed us warmly," says Infante, recalling the conscious-raising experience.
The result is an integrated group of unique patterns that feature authentic African design elements and provide a variety of textures, prints, and colors.
Pattern motifs are drawn from Africa's many nations and kingdoms--the life, culture, history, art, and artifacts of the inhabitants--as well as the area's abundance of plant, flower, and animal life.
The collection includes 12 wallpaper patterns in 54 colorways, six border patterns in 29 colorways, and five coordinating fabrics in 26 colorways.
Representative patterns include: African Sun Border: A veritable African safari--a parade of antelopes, giraffes, elephants, zebras, ostriches, leopards, and lions--is depicted against the natural terrain of Zaire. A thin edging of rectangles echoes the magnificently patterned belts used for adornment of kings and other high-ranking officials.
Ubuntu Cave Paintings: The enduring beauty of prehistoric art created more than 40,000 years ago and found in Southern African caves is captured in this timeless pattern.
Barkehi Tree: Called "the lucky tree"
on the continent, the Barkehi is the inspiration for this powerful pattern,
which also displays the striking geometric shapes of the Botshabelo painted
walls of Ndebele.
Nonzi Ku Diamond: Zigzag and chevron themes, so prevalent among the art products of African nations, receive a fresh interpretation in this fabric. Mostly drawn from Ivory Coast works, the design uses shapes, superimpositions, value contrasts, and scale modifications to make a remarkably vibrant statement.
Congo Square: An overall wallcovering pattern, Congo Square takes on the illusion of three dimensionality reminiscent of the strong dark and light contrasts of African carvings and raffia weavings, characteristic of products produced south of the Sahara.
Gold Coast: Borrowing its look from ancient weavings known as Kente Cloth, this whimsical pattern displays symbols representing joyful omens.
Abidjan Arbor Leaf: The impression of dense African forest is conveyed in this fabric, which unfurls a luxuriant intermingling of leaves. The bold look of relief printing gives this design its naturalistic vigor.
Topotha Beads Diamond: The use of beads and shells in the embroidery of clothing worn by African royalty during state occasions inspired this design. Topotha bead art and the beadwork of the Maasai and Ndebele peoples are well-known for their complexity and elegance, qualities embodied in the wallpaper.
"The versatility of L'Odyssee Africaine allows the patterns to fit into many different style interiors," Infante explains. "The simpler patterns blend in well with more traditional environments, while the more graphic patterns can be used strikingly in contemporary settings. Whether a room boasts Persian rugs or Chippendale chairs, or is in a bungalow, a traditional home, or New York City apartment, there's a L'Odyssee Africaine wallpaper to complement it," she adds.
Gone are the days when a strict adherence to a single design style for a living space is the right thing. Diverse decorative elements--such as assorted styles, time periods, or country of origin--can be beautifully combined if they relate in color, scale, and texture. An eclectic approach to decorating yields far more interesting and distinctive environments.
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