Five | Six Textiles

Name: Five | Six Textiles
Price range: $$

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.

Business Website Address

Five | Six Textiles

Founder(s), CEO and/or President Emma Wingfield & Laine Henry

Founder Story

Five | Six Textiles began with a conversation. In 2014, Emma Wingfield, an art researcher, was traveling through Côte d’Ivoire studying the development of contemporary craftsmanship. During a meeting with the weavers of Waraniéné, they expressed an interest in working with someone on product development who could bring their textiles to an international audience. At a time when demand for their work was diminishing and the industry of weaving itself on the verge of becoming an undesirable career path due to increased demand for mass-produced imitation cloth, Waraniéné wanted to grow interest in their business beyond the borders of their community.
Upon returning to the states, Emma enlisted the help of Laine Henry, a designer, and together in 2016, the two of them founded Five | Six Textiles in partnership with 15 master weavers. Five | Six has grown in tandem with the weavers of Waraniéné ever since. We add to our group of master weavers, tailors, and dyers every year.
Five | Six transports impeccably handwoven textiles from this remote region into contemporary homes around the world. We are privileged to work with this small collective that values handmade goods. We are committed to supporting and studying the rich traditions of West African weaving and dying and honor the artists who are committed to making this craft their profession.
Our mission is to make exceptional textiles that preserve a rare weaving culture while simultaneously benefiting their community. We are dedicated to building a sustainable business that facilitates a dialogue between the local artisans and the global community. As an artisan-to-consumer brand, we spend time developing our model with Waraniéné rather than for Waraniéné. We pay fair wages that we define with our weavers based on the current sell rate of textiles locally and skill level. We invest an additional percentage of our annual net profits back into the community for supplies, health, education, and business development programs decided in conjunction with community leaders.
We hope Five | Six will help foster a world of responsible consumers who cherish a real understanding of how the things they buy are made and what that represents. Each Five | Six Textile takes anywhere from 1-5 days to weave, meaning each piece is mindfully crafted and requires intentionality in decision making. Each impeccable piece is designed to enrich the space it inhabits, highlighting craftsmanship and sustainability.

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