This textile is named Good Day Sunshine and is part of the Some Like It Mod collection by Architex. The textile is made up of circles, zigzags, and dots radiating from it, resembling the sun. Upon first impression you can observe its correlation to African motif, however when mentioning the inspiration, Architex make a reference to Mod culture. On the website, they describe the textile collection as “fashion obsessed. Hyper cool swinging London is back.” The lack of accreditation given to the original pattern motifs throughout the collection can be seen as an act of appropriation of African textile patterns.

The textile Good Day Sunshine is 54 inches, the pattern repeats every inch every 11 inches vertically and 9.25 horizontally. Its contents are 38% cotton, 36% postconsumer recycled polyester and 26% solution dyed nylon, and has a heavy acrylic backing. It preformed up to 100,000 double rubs in the Wyzenbeek test and has 40 hours of lightfastness. Considering it is made of biobased and recycled content, it is labeled as a sustainable material, it is recommended for upholstery and approved for residential and commercial use indoors. This textile can be bought for $70.00 per yard (USD) and it comes in six different colors, their names are ground, happy, love, laugh, tree and sky.

This textile is a part of the collection “Some Like It Mod”, which is a reference to the Mod youth culture that took place London during the 1950s. This culture was a result of the newfound freedom the youth had, and contrasted the traditions at the time, associating the culture with rebellion. The description provided describe the textiles as “fashion obsessed” and “hyper cool” The Mod culture was focused on being cool and hip, which took part in evolving pop art, music, and the fashion at the time. The Mod aesthetic consisted of a clean and put together look, incorporated as button-down shirts, suits jackets and ties paired with bright colors and patterns such as plaid, stripes, geometric and linear figures. In contrast, the colors found within the collection are made up of neutral, darker, and earthy tones.

I found this textile interesting because despite its reference the Mod culture, upon first impression, I recognized these textiles to incorporate African motif. When presenting the textiles from the collection to my Nigerian friend, he said “these patterns look very familiar”. He then went on to explain how he could recognize these textiles as African inspired and mentioned how the patterns and the colors used could be associated with different regions throughout the African continent. He pointed out that the motifs used within the textile Good Day Sunshine resemble West African design. While the motif incorporated within the Lucy In The Sky textile was correlated to East African design, more specifically Ethiopian, or south Sudanese. This helped me realize the appropriated patterns and further look into narratives and consequences of this replicated design without accreditation.

There is an abundance of variety that can be found within the continent of Africa, considering that it is home to over 3000 ethnicities, creating thousands of cultures within it, and over 2100 languages spoken. Throughout the continent there is a consistent emphasis on textiles, and it is considered an artform. The richness of culture can be observed through the cultural expressions incorporated within the textiles. The patterns and motifs used within the textile designs vary from region to region, this allows for motifs and patterns to be associated to a specific area or a group of people.

Textiles patterns throughout Africa serve a variety of purposes, commonly used as a means of communication and self-expression. Through the usage of motifs, symbols, figures and color different narratives and messages can be conveyed. These textiles can be used to communicate traditions, stories, folklore, spread good omens, and take note on historical events. As time goes on and culture progresses, textile patterns are continuously evolving alongside it. This allows textiles to serve as evidence of these cultural developments. Communicating through textiles ensures the preservation of historical accounts and decreases the possibility of altered narratives.

Textiles within Africa are constantly evolving to reflect current cultural happenings. Textile weavers would often improvise and diverge from standard motifs by developing and incorporating new ones. By way of combining the old and the new, there is a continuous evolution of pattern allowing for the development and creation different means and methods of communication within textiles. Imperfections within African textiles are considered segues for innovation, and oftentimes symmetry would be broken in order to enrich the decorative elements of the design. To contrast this, commonly found within western aesthetic culture, there is an emphasis on consistency, repetition, and symmetry. And if not adhered to these standards, the end product would be considered of low quality and not aesthetically pleasing.

With all this considered, textiles within Africa are not just patterns and colors- they allow connections between communities, and generations to be formed. They can pass along stories, ideas, omens, and historical events. They serve as evidence of the existence of a group of people, how they lived, what they believed in and preserve the intergenerational evolution of culture.

Through analyzing patterns incorporated on the textile Good Day Sunshine, we can observe that there is a larger issue present. While artistic and cultural expression found throughout Africa is consistently looked down upon within Western society, its commonly used as inspiration within design. Through its appropriation, as found in the Architex collection Some Like It Mod, patterns that originally would hold profound meanings, are washed away and taken at aesthetic value. This attempt at recreation would deafen the importance of textile design throughout African continent.

The company Architex provides textiles for various purposes ranging from commercial, to healthcare and hospitality for over 40 years. Their products are used by institutions and buildings all over the world. Architex is committed to producing and evolving their textiles to be as sustainable as possible. I found this company interesting because despite being a major company that emphasizes sustainability, Trish Moore is the representative for the Philadelphia and Delaware region and can be emailed at Trishmoore@architex-ljh.com. They have a showroom in New York City. I found this company interesting because despite being a large and internationally known company, they appropriated African textile design without accreditation to the original inspiration.

Works Cited

Leon, Eli. Accidentally on Purpose : the Aesthetic Management of Irregularities in African Textiles and African-American Quilts. Figge Art Museum, 2006.

Spring, Christopher. African Textiles Today. The British Museum Press, 2012.

LaGamma, Alisa., and Christine. Giuntini. The Essential Art of African Textiles : Design Without End. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008.

Ghazi, Jouri, and Faisal Hamman. “Asking About Textiles.” 19 May 2022.

“Sustainability.” Architex, https://www.architex-ljh.com/resources/sustainability/.

“Good Day Sunshine.” Material Bank, https://www.materialbank.com/architex-good-day sunshine-853578.