Adire: The Tie and Dye Process

History of trade and fashion is not complete in the South-Western part of Nigeria without mentioning the art of Adire. This is a tie and dye process of making cloth using the Indigo plant extract and the now usage of caustic soda and dye to make what is called Kampala.
The Yoruba people were known for their trade and thus travels. Story has it that the tie and dye process is synonymous to cloth pattern worn in Mali.
Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State is popular for two things; Olumo rock and the popular Adire Market. There is the issue of where the tie and dye process originated from. The Osogbo people claim it is theirs in alignment to the story of how Osogbo got its name from the Goddess of the Osun River. ‘Oso igbo e pele o, gbogbo koko aro mi le ti fo tan’ meaning ‘’Hello deity of the forest,you have broken all my dyeing pots.’ This made tie and dye to become their trade. While on the other hand the Abeokuta people lay claim to starting the art way back.

Speaking to Elsat Kampala, a great grand daughter of Iyabode Sunmonu, the person who brought the art of Tie and Dye (kampala) to Abeokuta on who truly started the trade. She gave me her own answer in respect to how knowledgeable she is about the issue, for she was not yet born when her great-great grandmother passed on. We also talk about the history and process of tie and dye.

“Osun State can not beat their chest to say they own the art of Indigo making.The reason is growing up, i was born into this art and many trainees have passed through this place to learn the art of tie and dye. Osun and Abeokuta are so different to each other. Maybe in another world before we were born can Osun claim they started
the art of tie and dye. The art of tie and dye is synonymous to this family. The Adeyanju’s family popularly known as Jojoola compound, the address is 16, Jojoola Court, Abeokuta.”

If we want to trace the history of the name, the first Iyalode in Egbaland bears the name Jojoola, and she was inaugurated in this compound.
The first set of tie and dye that was made in Abeokuta was in this compound and it’s the Indigo dye, which the Osogbo people took up as there own.

From my own understanding that i can deduce so far on the issue of Osun and Egba saying they both own the tie and dye craft, their Oriki (praise poetry) talks to the type of tie and dye they practice. The knowledge they learn from our own great great grand mothers is what they worked on to expand their own knowledge of tie and dye to the extent we do not have similar designs.

There are some adire makers in the area called Oke-Ijemo in Abeokuta here. Our siblings and family that married from the area always bring their wives to us to learn and work. In brief, all of them learn the art of tie and dye from Jojoola’s compound.

All these area used to be pots of Indigo while I was growing up. The founder of the art of Kampala in Abeokuta, Iyabode Sunmonu, was a known socialite who brought in the art of Kampala which is quite different from the art of Indigo. Many people come around wanting to know the art of Indigo but it’s a trade secret that can not be messed with like the way Kampala making has been diluted.

Indigo has a lot of health protection. If worn most of the time, the wearer will not have any case of hypertension, diabetes. Back then, Teru material was used for the Indigo dye, Satin and another material called ‘Jojo’ are also used, but they are not manufactured again. The teru materials available now are not as good as the ones in the 70s and 80s. Thus we converted to using white materials for the making of Indigo art. It is not all materials that can absorb indigo dye.
Any cloth materials that has nylon texture can not hold dye in it, once dipped in cold water, it flows off thus spoiling the materials with no design at all. Cotton materials mixed with a bit of nylon material can absorb the dye a bit but will not be like real cotton which will absorb the dye.

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