Kliblibli Black | Ecru | Yellow Scarf

2022-12-22T12:31:49+01:00

Type: Fabrics
Price: 90.00

Hand-woven organic cotton

Natural dye with Mangifera indica Mango tree bark

1 m Long X 35 cm Wide

This scarf is hand-weaved by a master-artisan at the royal palace of King Agonglo, located in Abomey, the southern Benin. The yarn is produced exclusively in organic coton, using ancestral techniques, and dyed only in natural pigments formulated on site in a completely sustainable and environmentally conscious approach.

From its inception at the time of Dahomey's royal dynasties to this very day, not any artisan was allowed to weave the 'Klibibi' cloth. Each chosen master-weaver must obey a strict set of rules; breaking even one of these rules, irremediably deprives the cloth of its power. Thus, when weaved to perfection, the cloth acts as a talisman (on the king) and protects him from all harm. "Klé" means cricket, and "bibi" skilful, agile, in fon. "the skilful cricket does not receive the hunter's bullet" and "the skilful cricket does not die of fire".

When the artisan weaves the 'Klibibi', no one is allowed to visit him. The weaver starts by cutting high grass, brushwood to cover the ground. There, on this carpet of leaves, he sets out his workshop, in complete seclusion, entirely naked and nourished only by a few kola leaves and water during the entirety of the process. Everything must be done the same day: the dyeing, the warp, the assembly, the weaving and the finishing. This ancestral technique is still perpetuated to this very day, in the same specific circumstances, by the master-weavers at the Royal Palace of King Agonglo..