Benin Textile, Craft & Fashion tour

Arrive Cotonou. Afternoon at Fondation Zinsou, the permanent collection’s textile objects, including Fon appliqué court hangings (the most significant textile tradition in the country). Evening: visit to two Cotonou-based contemporary African fashion designers whose work draws on Beninese textile traditions. An introduction to how traditional making connects to contemporary fashion.

Transfer to Abomey. The Fon appliqué hangings, colourful fabric panels depicting royal history and ceremonial scenes, are the most distinctive and historically significant textile tradition in West Africa outside of kente. Morning: a working appliqué atelier with the families who have maintained this tradition for generations. Afternoon: Abomey brass-casting workshops, the metalwork traditions that produce the jewellery and adornment objects worn with the textiles.

Transfer to Porto-Novo. The Yoruba adire (resist-dyed indigo fabric) tradition is practiced in Porto-Novo’s Yoruba community, the same tradition carried to Brazil and the Caribbean with the enslaved. Morning: an adire workshop with a Porto-Novo dye master. Afternoon: the Aguda embroidery tradition, Portuguese-influenced embroidery developed by the Brazilian returnee families, applied to West African garments and liturgical objects.

Transfer to Kétou. The Yoruba weaving tradition — including the aso-oke fabric used in ceremonies from Nigeria to Brazil has deep roots in Kétou. Morning: a weaving demonstration with a Kétou textile family. Afternoon: Rosalie Linhoun introduces the group to the sacred textile objects of the Kétou royal court the ceremonial cloths, the masquerade costumes, the regalia that connect textile and spiritual life.

Transfer north to Parakou. The northern textile and adornment traditions are completely different from the south — Fulani silver jewellery, Bariba embroidered leather, Sahel-influenced woven fabrics in cotton and wool. Grand Marché morning visit: the textile section is one of the most commercially active. Afternoon: visit to a leatherwork atelier and a Fulani silver workshop.

Return to Cotonou. Final market visit for purchases — all textile traditions represented, at source prices. VBR can arrange introductions to KipFashion’s Beninese supplier network for buyers with commercial interest. Afternoon: packing, shipping advice for purchased textiles. Transfer to COO airport.