Five | Six Textiles

Five | Six Textiles is a design brand dedicated to preserving heirloom textiles. Our textiles are mindfully crafted in partnership with the weaving collective of Waraniéné in Northern Côte d’Ivoire. Marrying skilled techniques with contemporary aesthetics, each piece combines the purpose of pictorial weaving with utilitarian process.

Handwoven in strips on upright frame looms with the highest quality 100% raw cotton, these textiles are produced using the same materials and techniques developed over hundreds of years. This process produces quality cloth that is significantly durable, reminiscent of nubby linen, and softens with use. Prioritising slow production processes and the use of the human hand, each piece is a unique work of art.

We believe the most exceptional textiles come from the artisans who originated them. That’s why we collaborate directly with a collective of Master weavers, ensuring that your textile is woven at the highest quality, with natural materials that will last lifetimes. A nomadic product by nature, textiles are distinguished by their portability, allowing them to tell a story through their use. We’re extremely proud of this long-standing partnership that allows us to design home textiles that can be seamlessly incorporated into your home or taken with you wherever you go.

West African textile design has always been collaborative. The Five | Six Textiles process is no different. Design begins with Dyula motifs - vintage and contemporary - found vial scholarly archives and museum collections. The artistic inspiration really starts flowing once we bring what we discovered to our artisans. The collaborative process begins as they reimagine how these patterns work with contemporary design. The artisans also share histories of the motifs, their names, and meanings behind how they look. This adds context and meaning to our textiles and in so doing produce truly unique works of art.

Cotton is grown locally. Once harvested, the raw cotton is machine spun into large clumps of rough thread. The collective purchases the cotton in a natural white or dark indigo color called blue marine. The un-dyed cotton may be hand-dye if a different color is desired. Then, the cotton is hand-spun onto hand-carved spools and threaded onto the looms.
Once on the loom, the raw cotton is woven into long narrow strips of cloth using a complex system of peddles, wood slats, and dowels. Operated by foot and by hand, the motifs are created through complex warp and/or weft float patterns. The motif is built by a simple measuring system and manually threaded reeds attached to small beams that are cranked into position as a hand-shuttle darts between the layers. These looms are built by the weavers upon the completion of their initial training. This training takes 10 years and is passed down from father to son.
As the cloth is woven, it is rolled onto a thick dowel. Upon completion, the dowl is removed and individual strips are cut and zig-zagged stitched together, building the final silhouette and pattern. The ends of the strips are finished with a single stitch, leaving the natural cut edge visible.
Each textile is individually inspected before shipping to you.