?How Did We Make That
SUN PRINTING
Inspired by traditional printing techniques of our African ancestors, we use natural sunlight to create the dynamic designs found on our nature embossed sun printed fabrics. Seychelles is located close to the equator so the intensity of the sun is perfect for our work.
To form the designs, we use leaves and flowers grown in our lush tropical mountain garden such as fern, cassava, breadfruit, papaya, palm leaves and hibiscus. Our modern design artistry and skilful printing result in a stunning one of a kind work of art.
Fabrics drying in the hot sun.
photo by Jayne Callaghan
HAND SCREEN PRINTING
We illustrate all of our own silkscreens and have decades of serigraphy printing experience. Using ink on a mesh screen, we do all of our printing in house the old fashioned way--by hand! After we imprint the raw fabric, we 'asperger' it (a paint sprinkling technique), dye it, hand paint it, put it in the sun for nature embossing or leave it white.
AFRICAN TIE AND DYE
We use the same tie and dye printing techniques practiced in Africa for centuries by African artisans. We fold and tie the cotton tightly with ribbon or grass and either dip it into the large vats of dye or hand paint the dye directly to the fabric. We use strong and vibrant pigments from Ethiopia that create the striking patterns and vivid color.
After the fabric is thoroughly saturated, we rinse it in sea water to wash off any extra dye and to keep it colorfast. It is then left in the hot sun to dry.
LEAF STAMPING
Coming Soon!
ILLUSTRATED MAPS
Each of our illustrated maps is lovingly drawn by hand using a Copperplate nib and calligraphy dip pen like the one above. We obsess over the little details and edit often before we draw the final design.
After months of sketching, our final design is finished and ready to be printed. We use the best printers in Seychelles to insure the highest quality reproduction of our black and white maps.
With great care and skill, we hand paint each of our maps in watercolor so no two maps are alike.
We update often to keep all of our designs current.