Pouf - Green Ndop Cube

Pouf - Green Ndop Cube

CHF 59.00

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
Jazzy African print cube ottoman with its popular “Ndop” pattern in green is an easy way to update the look of your home. Featuring a sleek clean look, it has been up cycled by re-upholstered with African print together with a green elasticated cotton fabric with felt non-marking “feet”.

This cube footstool/pouf achieves a modern elegance even though it’s made in Bauhaus style. The fabric is a 100% industrial version of the “ndop” traditional design of the northwest and west of Cameroon. An indispensable furniture complement, not only because it adds a colorful tribal touch to your home but also because of the additional options it avails. Our pouf acts as a footrest in front of your sofa or armchair, as an extra seat if needed, but also because it is more rigid and less floppy than some, it gives more support and so allows you to use it as a stool if need be; it becomes a TV tray or newspapers’ shelf. You can use it in the bedroom, sitting room or a child room.

If you have questions about a particular item or would like to order, please contact Tribal Traces. We are more than happy and willing to answer.

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BACKSTORY:
Bauhaus (the Staatliches Bauhaus), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933. It combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for promoting the approach to design that incorporated its teachings. This Bauhaus style later became one of the more influential in modern design, modernist architecture and art, design and architectural education and had a profound influence on subsequent developments in art, architecture, interior design, to name a few. One of the most important contributions of the Bauhaus is in the field of modern furniture design and here is evidence of how it has trickled all the way down to minor designs like even poufs.

Ndop Resist Dyed Cloth is a resist-stitched, indigo-dyed cloth of the Graffi/Bamileke of grassland Cameroon is called Ndop. It is thought that such textiles initially originated in East-Central Nigeria. They were brought to Cameroon by the Hausa traders. By the end of the 19th century, the Bamoun Sultan Njoya of Foumban adopted these textiles and it became very popular in the royal courts first before their use was extended the general population. The roundabout path to production nowadays is good example of inter-tribal cooperation. The cotton growing regions of Nigeria and northern Cameroon produce the basic fabric in narrow 5 cm strips of hand-woven cotton. This cloth is then brought down to the Bamileke villages where women artisans hand-stitch the strips together and also stitch in the geometrical resist design using raffia thread. Designs are created by applying cassava starch paste to certain areas of the cloth which would then not take up the blue of the indigo, but maintain the white/off-white of the cotton. The cloth is then taken back north where it is dyed with indigo, a natural organic dye extracted from the leaves of certain plants and with a distinctive blue color. The prepared fabric cloths are submerged in vats of deep blue indigo dye. The dyed cloth is transported back south where the raffia stitches get unpicked to reveal the pattern of white resist against a blue background. Bamileke patterns are usually tribal, geometrical or abstract. Similar cloths that originate from Nigeria tend to feature non-abstract designs with animals such as lizards, scorpions, leopards and sometimes humans. It is not uncommon to find strips of both origins are combined.

Modern day industrial production of these cloths means that a vast plethora of color variations are now on offer, that are easier to wash and use. The dyes of the traditional cloths may not be colorfast and sometimes less strong than they appear.

PRODUCT DETAILS/SPECIFICATION:
Type of object: Up cycled square pouf/stool
Dimensions: Height: 40 cm, Width: 42 cm, Length: 42 cm, Weight: 1.2 kg
Style: Bauhaus style
Geographic origin: Unknown
Date of manufacture: 2000s
Period: Modern
Materials and techniques: Cotton outer; African print and plain cotton (98% cotton, 2% elastin), expandable polystyrene filling and polyester batting
Condition: Good – very good
Condition/wear/damage details: Generally is in good – very good condition.