Centuries of West African textile craftsmanship translated into digital design. Bold geometric patterns, rhythmic repetition, vibrant life energy — every thread carries a story, every color a meaning.
A living tradition, measured
3,000+
Artisan Traditions
years of craft
300+
Kente Patterns
named designs
54
Countries
unique textiles
12K+
Living Weavers
active today
UI elements with Kente soul
Five earthy African colors, rooted in the landscape
Kente Orange
Dark Wood
Gold
Forest Green
Sand
Primary
Kente Orange
CTAs, headers, strong accents, borders
Background
Dark Wood
Main background, deep contrast surfaces
Accent
Gold
Gold accents, decorative highlights, dividers
Geometric language of the loom — inline SVG patterns
The zigzag represents the winding road of life — ups and downs, challenges and triumphs. Used in Kente strips to honor elders who have navigated life's full journey.
Four-sided diamonds encode the four cardinal directions and the dual nature of existence: physical and spiritual, masculine and feminine, mortal and divine.
Intersecting threads symbolize the crossing of paths and the binding of community. In Kuba weaving, cross-stitch density signals the cloth's ceremonial importance.
Arrowhead chevrons point forward: progress, ambition, and collective direction. Layered chevrons amplify this message — more layers, greater communal resolve.
The fundamental structure of all woven cloth: warp and weft threads crossing at right angles, each intersection a decision. The grid is not just aesthetic — it is the physical reality of weaving made visible. Color alternation at each cell mimics the over-under rhythm of the loom.
Four living textile arts that inspire this style
Ghana & Ivory Coast
Warp-dominated strip weaving producing bold geometric bands. Gold, green, and red threads interlock to carry proverbs and status. Each 4-inch strip is stitched together with neighboring strips to build the final cloth.
Yoruba, Nigeria
Resist-dyeing with indigo produces otherworldly patterns. Cassava paste, raffia ties, and stitching block the dye from penetrating cloth. Unwrapped, the fabric reveals pale negative space against deep blue — each piece unique, unrepeatable.
Mali & Senegal
Fermented mud applied over sun-dried, tannin-soaked cotton creates permanent dark patterns. White negative space is left by the original cloth. Symbols encode hunter's achievements, proverbs, and protective power. Each cloth is a wearable archive.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Cut-pile embroidery on raffia creates velvety geometric patterns with extraordinary precision. Kuba kings historically restricted certain patterns for royal use alone. The density of pattern and the tactile depth of pile create cloth you read with your fingertips.
Layered knowledge, like layered cloth
Kente, known as nwentoma among the Akan of Ghana and Ivory Coast, is one of Africa's most recognized textiles. Woven in colorful, geometric strips, each pattern combination carries specific proverbs, historical events, or philosophical concepts. Gold represents royalty and wealth, green represents growth and renewal, and red carries the weight of sacrifice and struggle.
Track the cloth as it grows on the loom
Overall Weave
65%
Pattern Rows
Row 1
Row 2
Row 3
Row 4
Customize your textile experience
Woven Texture Overlay
Display subtle textile grain across all surfaces
Geometric Decorations
Show Kente-inspired pattern blocks and dividers
Earth Tone Lock
Restrict color selection to traditional pigment palette
The laws of the loom — what to do, what to avoid
Layer geometric motifs rhythmically. Repetition creates the visual rhythm that makes textiles sing.
Ground every palette in the ochres, terracottas, and forest greens of the West African landscape.
Bold, wide-tracked uppercase text carries the authority of tradition. Thin fonts betray the craft.
Digital-native palettes — electric blue, cool grays, neon accents — break the cultural grounding entirely.
Silence in textile is waste. Every surface invites pattern. Refuse the modern cult of emptiness.
Hairline weights dissolve the authority that bold craft demands. Use weight as a statement.
Bold voice of the griot
Display / H1
Heritage
Heading / H2
Woven Stories
Subheading / H3
Patterns of Life and Land
Body Text
The loom stands in the compound, its rhythmic clacking filling the morning air. Thread by thread, strip by strip, a cloth takes shape that will outlast the weaver. Each color chosen with intention. Each pattern placed with ancestral purpose. To wear this cloth is to carry history.
Caption / Label
Ashanti Kente Weaving · Ghana · 17th Century Onward
Textile as ceremony, identity, and archive
In many West African cultures, specific textile patterns are worn only at ceremonies: funerals, enstoolment of chiefs, coming-of-age rites, and harvest festivals. The cloth transforms the wearer into a ceremonial participant — both announcing their status and invoking ancestral protection.
Kente worn at a funeral carries different pattern meanings than Kente worn at a naming ceremony. The cloth speaks a language that the community reads at a glance, ensuring that the correct spiritual protocols are honored.
Earthen notices — grounded in tradition
Pattern saved
Your Kente weave design has been preserved for future generations.
Thread tension warning
The warp tension may need adjustment before continuing the weave.
Thread broke
The weave encountered a break. Please re-thread the loom and try again.
Tradition note
Each Kente pattern carries a unique name and cultural meaning.
What makes African Textile design system unique
Patterns repeat with rhythmic purpose. No space is left unspoken. Every surface participates in the visual dialogue.
The griot's voice is never a whisper. Text commands attention through mass, uppercase authority, and generous tracking.
Kente orange, gold, forest green, and earth sand create a palette rooted in the West African savanna and forest.
Flat 4px offset shadows in dark wood create tactile depth that echoes the physicality of woven cloth and carved wood.
Every visual choice carries meaning. Chevrons signal direction. Diamonds encode duality. Crosses bind community.
Grid layouts use rhythmic color alternation — orange, gold, green, sand — mimicking the warp-weft structure of the loom.
“The cloth is the story. The story is the people. The people are the cloth.”