Barkcloth is probably familiar to most readers of the blog but maybe not these textiles.
Barkcloth is made by pounding inner tree bark over a hard surface until the fibres mesh together. Across the globe barkcloth is produced in this way and the studio collection has examples from Africa and the Pacific. This map shows the parts of the world where barkcloth is made.
Credit: Adapted from ‘World map blank’ by San Jose (2006), based on Generic Mapping Tools, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
There is also an imitation barkcloth. This is a woven cotton fabric, textured to resemble the rough surface of the wooden fabrics and it will be familiar to most of us who love mid-century design. This kind of barkcloth is much used in interior fabrics as well as, occasionally, tropical short-sleeved shirts. There are examples of this type of barkcloth in the studio collection too.
The imitation fabric aside, most backcloths are made by fusing the fibres of tree bark. The Ainu of Japan are the only people who produce a true woven barkcloth. Attush is a fabric made from the inner bark of young mountain elm trees. It is woven to produce a light-weight, golden fabric that gives a distinctive hue to garments from the North. Although there are no examples in the studio collection there is a book about the clothing of the Ainu, and another of Japanese cloths, in the studio library. If you would like to see either please pop into the studio and ask.
Read more:
Tapa in Los Angeles County Museum
National Museums of Scotland “Barkcloth around the world”
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