What better to have around in the cold winter weather than a blanket or two…
In the Southern African country of Lesotho, high up in the mountains of the Drakensberg, woollen blankets have been worn for more than a century and a half. The largest manufacturer, Aranda Textile Mills, was appointed by the royal family of Lesotho in the 1990s to make these, and is still operating from its original premises that were established in the 1950s just outside Johannesburg in South Africa. The company was created by Dr. Rodolfo Magni, an Italian immigrant, and continues as a family business.
According to the Aranda website the Magni family left Prato in Italy after World War Two following the blowing-up of their factories and machinery by departing German forces. Prato itself is an ancient and thriving textile centre, based on wool manufacture and these days, recycling. Prato is one of Europe’s largest industrial districts and recycles its waste water in the only system of its kind on the continent.
Basotho blankets feature motifs and colours that reflect their cultural importance. There are blankets for celebration and to make occasions, blankets for royalty and for ministers, church blankets and household blankets. The textile collection has a few (as a recent article on the blog illustrates) and in September a few more will be added following our visit to South Africa and Zimbabwe.
In New Zealand Aotearoa, wool has been a blanket-making material for many decades. In the collection are New Zealand blankets from the middle of the last century, featuring Māori, Scottish, English, Welsh and European patterns. This interesting business, Noa Blanket Company, intentionally makes use of traditional Māori symbols and patterns from woven and plaited borders and cloths to create striking articles that evoke yesteryear while also reflecting contemporary tastes. It is an about-turn from this 1903 Goldie portrait of Ina Te Papatahi (Ngāpuhi) with its very British blanket across the shoulders of the sitter.