Adire

Adire is a resist-dyed cloth produced and worn by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria in West Africa. The Yoruba label adire, which means “tied and dyed,” was first applied to indigo-dyed cloth decorated with resist patterns around the turn of the twentieth century. With the introduction of a broader color palette of imported synthetic dyes in the second half of the twentieth century, the label “adire” was expanded to include a variety of hand-dyed textiles using wax resist batik methods to produce patterned cloth in a dazzling array of dye tints and hues.

The Art of Making Adire

The traditional production of indigo-dyed adire involves the input of two female specialists-dyers (alaro), who control production and marketing of adire, and decorators (aladire), who create the resist patterns. In the oldest forms of adire, two basic resist techniques are used to create soft blue or white designs to contrast with a deeply saturated indigo blue background. Adire oniko is tied or wrapped with raffia to resist the dye.Adire eleko has starchy maize or cassava paste hand-painted onto the surface of the cloth as a resist agent. Further experimentation led to two additional techniques. Adire alabere involves stitching the cloth with thread prior to dyeing to produce fine-lined motifs. Adire batani is produced with the aid of zinc stencils to control the application of the resist starch.

The major Àdìre/Kampala market is located in Itoku market (Abeokuta South local government) Ogun State. It is being sold in this market for centuries.The most interesting facts about Eleko and Oniko is that the art is not taught to anybody who is an outsider, to be an expert in the art of àdìre oniko and eleko you most a member of the family. The art and designs are most time based on some significant cultural heritage.

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