Home Decorating Style Guide
What better way to incorporate color, energy and history into your home than with a particular decorating style? More and more people are discovering how to liven up their environments with striking design elements, so take a look at the following information to get you started.
A Taste of Africa
Embrace Regionalism
Whether you are thinking of African fabrics or African musical instruments, you will find that the differences and variations could fill an entire library, so make sure that you take a look around at the regional differences. The cloth that you find in Ghana, for instance, will be instantly distinguishable from the African fabrics that you find elsewhere.
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When you are considering African fabrics,  take a look around at some of the variety that you will see. Batik, which uses wax to create some of the most beautifully intricate designs on bright vivid colors are a great way to add a little bit of color to your world, and you'll find that many of these designs are influenced by tribal motifs. They are often hand-dyed, giving them a lively mode color variation and offering a one of a kind piece of art no matter what you intend to use it for. Similarly, you'll find that they are often created in small pieces, usually no more than two and four yards, and that they are perfect for decoration. |
There is wonderful variety to be found in African musical instruments. Most familiar to many people are the African drums, which can range in use from being musical instruments, to ceremonial objects to a form of highly sophisticated communication. You'll find that African musical instruments will differ depending on which area of the country they are from; for instance, you'll find that the slit drums of the Yaka and the Yangere are quite different from the traditional drums of the Yoruba and the Senufro. When looking at the African musical instruments, you will also see a wide variety of wind instruments like trumpets and flutes as well as many types of xylophone and harps. |
African Arts and Crafts
African arts and crafts are often found in the form of statues, figures and figurines, as well as decorative cloths and musical instruments, particularly drums. Most African art is sculpture, with statues in human form as the most popular, as these statues serve to give praise or tribute to a great leader, or an honorable man or woman. Evidences of African art could be found as early as 500 BC, with carved rocks in the Sahara and sculptures from Nigeria. The use of bronze, brass and other metalwork, as well as the incorporation of terracotta, ivory and other embellishments were attributed to go back as far as 10th century AD, and usually reserved for royalty.
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Animals in African art are often included with human figures, to further give praise to the person being honored. For example, a horse is considered a very noble animal, and including one in a sculpture of a man or woman means that person is being held in very high regard. Most contemporary statues are made of either stone or carved of wood. |
A large part of African arts and crafts is traditional arts, which were deeply woven into the daily life and culture of the different African peoples, and now found on display in most museums. An example of these is the African mask. Africans use masks in ceremonial and ritual practices, usually in celebration, but also to prepare for war, to initiate a young warrior, and before a harvest. |
Other African arts and crafts used in old African traditions are African baskets. The baskets of the Etsha and Gumare tribes in Botswana are particularly famous for their beauty. While baskets are usually carried over the head, the influence of foreign cultures have modified the way baskets are carried, allowing totes to be slung around one's shoulders. |
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