The 18 Ethiopian Artists

Abessinia Project brings together 18 Ethiopian artists, an Austrian designers, Lidwina Dox, and a manufacturer based in Thailand, led by Ami Zarchi. We have mentioned briefly about Lidwina and Ami, and now we'd like to introduce you with the artists we work with. Some of them are traditional painters, some are manuscript writers, icon painters, and artists. They are from Addis Ababa, Axum, Gondar and Lalibela. Here are their portraits.

Ethiopia

Many has been said about the Ethiopian artworks and artists. But little has about the background of the country. Here is a brief summary of its history and culture.

Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in the world and the second most populous nation is Africa. IT has yielded some of the oldest traces of humanity, making it an important area in the process of human evolution. The Ge'ez name ʾĪtyōṗṗyā, and its English cognate Ethiopia, is thought by some to be derived from the Greek word Αἰθιοπία Aithiopia, from Αἰθίοψ Aithiops ‘an Ethiopian’, which means "of burnt (αιθ-) visage (ὄψ)". However, this etymology is disputed, since the Book of Aksum, a Ge'ez chronicle first composed in the 15th century, states that the name is derived from "Ityopp'is", a son (unmentioned in the Bible) of Cush, son of Ham who according to legend founded the city of Axum. It is not certain how old the name Ethiopia is, but its earliest attested use in the region was as a Christianized name for the Kingdom of Aksum in the 4th century, in stone inscriptions of King Ezana.In English, Ethiopia was also historically known as Abyssinia, derived from the Arabic form of the Ethiosemitic name "ḤBŚT," modern Habesha.

The territory of Ethiopia is one of the oldest centers of human habitations. Some believe that Ethiopia is the land of genesis. Landlocked in the horn of Africa, Ethiopia covers a land twice the size of France, Kenya or Texas & four and half times the size of Great Britain and Italy. It shares frontiers with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, and The Sudan to the west and northwest.

Ethiopian’s history and culture are rich, unique and diverse, and is the most ancient empire in the world, which goes back thousands of years, came to an end on the 12th of September 1974. The country's rich history is woven with legends of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba; the Ark of the Covenant that is said to rest in Axum ; the great Axumite kingdom and the birth of Christianity; the rise of Islam; and the story of King Lalibela.

With over 80 different peoples, the cultures of its communities are prominent in Ethiopia's lifestyle. With traditions going back to the days of Axum, and a strong religious setting, celebrations and festivals play an important part in their daily lives. The greatest festival is Timket (Epiphany), where tourists are welcome to celebrate with the locals. But other festivals such as Enkutatash (the Ethiopian New Year, in September after the rains), Maskal, Gena (Christmas), Id and Easter are all glorious celebrations. In every region you will discover local festivals and ceremonies where you will be welcomed as an honored guest. Remember, when checking any dates, that Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, having thirteen months. The traditional calendar remains almost eight years behind the Gregorian Calendar of the West.

Source: Wikipedia

The English Course for the Ethiopian Artists

By Fanny Awaliana

When Lidwina Dox was delivering the Design Workshop in Addis Ababa in Summer 2006, she saw the unmet need of facilitating an English course for some of the artists from Axum and Gondar. The idea was immediately supported by Ami Zarchi, the sponsor of the workshop. Since May 2007, a tailored English course has been organized in Axum, and since June 2006, one has been organized in Gondar. Each course will last for six months. The following are some feedbacks we've received by email from the Ethiopian artists participating in the course.

From MIKIAS (painter, Axum city):

Dearest Abessinia Management, the age of learning is never end. So those altogether are progressing very drastically. I am dead sure that will see real change from us. All of us have been entertaining/funning with English language. It is relax and life it self. Knowledge is power and also English is power. It’s clear this planet is too dark with out English. So we have to know one international language... Let me tell you our weekly program. We have question and answer, telling history, debating class, vocabulary, Conversation, English grammar, music and video class.

From AYESHESHEM (painter, Gondar city):

Dear Abessinia Management, I am very happy to hear sponsorship for the language study. Everybody is delighted too. You are trying to support us in every possible way & that indeed is a quality of those who are kind to help others. I really say once again thank you for that.... When I was preparing to begin the English language course, I have had different opportunities of governmental & NGO’s jobs. But I have decided to continue my course on the English language because I have realized the importance of the course to improve my future life. Although we need more time to lead our daily life, we are struggling to be a good speaker of the language. So we are trying our best. But it not a task as easy as you thought.

Product Development Process After the Design Workshop

By Lidwina Dox

In Fall 2006, after a long flight I arrived in Bangkok and headed directly to our office (Tel-Dan Ltd.) in Samutprakarn district. Everyone there was eager to see the artworks I brought from Ethiopia. When we were going through them it was clear that everyone loved it. But a big question mark came immediately into our mind, "How to translate many hand-drawn artworks into textile design and products? And which artworks to start with"? We all knew that those artworks were no common textile designs in any sense. The translation work was going to be a massive challenge.

Still in the same Fall, Ami Zarchi (Tel-Dan's owner and managing director) asked me to join a business trip to the US to see some of his costumers. The trip was a good opportunity to find out how the whole concept of this work and the aesthetics would be appreciated by the big buyers. So off we went. We started in New York City, continued to Texas …and finally ended up in San Francisco. It turned out that the feedback from most buyers was highly positive. It was immediately clear which designs were best appreciated. With this information in hand, we returned to Bangkok with much optimism and delight to start working on the artworks.

Back in the office, our highly talented Thai designer, Bank, and I started to translate the selected artworks with some computer softwares. For us it was clear that our goal was to maintain the "deep" look of the hand-drawn, and not to make them look flat like some sort of typical computer textile designs. The "deepness" of the artworks makes a different aesthetics, which is their biggest strength. At the same time, we were aware that we had limited technical resources to translate the artworks. For this we had to do an awful lot of experiments in order to achieve the result we wanted. Step by step we improved our skills, and today we are confident that we can translate all the hand-drawn artworks onto fabrics and make them look artistic.

In the same time when we started to translate the artworks, we also began to work with a gifted Thai pattern maker named Eks. We developed 3D objects out of the artworks, such as stuffed animals, kids bags and different dolls. The challenge was as big. There are many things that have to be taken into account: the shapes surely have to match the textile design, the sizes have to be unconventional, etc., which require a thinking process on it own. Today, these products have turned out nice. In the whole process of product development, a couple of Tel-Dan's designers and a staff member specialized in inkjet textile printing also contributed to the success.

Now after a year of experimentation, we feel more confident and ready to take off. - And this feels good!

Abessinia Design Workshop in Addis Ababa, Summer 2006

By Lidwina Dox

After Ami Zarchi and I had decided that we really wanted to give our dream a serious try and start that collaboration, I flew back to Ethiopia to organize the design workshop at the Productivity Improvement Center in Addis Ababa. This training center – which is surrounded by wild gardens, high trees and friendly people – was just the right place to get creative work done. All the selected designers, manuscript writers, traditional icon painter and artist from various parts of the country had come to meet at that magnificent place and work together for 12 days. Some of the artists had brought drums, guitars and we also organized a volleyball and music – to make our days enjoyable in every sense.

We arranged all we needed: brushes, huge pots of various types of colors, all kind of papers etc. as well as all interesting tools that were requested by each individual participant. Immediately our studio was filled with all sorts of artistic ingredients before we had started. We had fun from the very first moment. Since most of them had never done textile design in their life before we started the whole session with some introductions on the most important information on textile design – and then off we took. While Bob Dylan or one of the boys drum session would make us swing while we worked the most incredible artworks developed. Not designs in the common way were the result, no - influenced by the background of each individual “designer” all sorts of unexpected compositions appeared on the paper. So it naturally happened that designers admired the artwork of the icon painters, artists the one of the manuscript writers etc. and that all sorts of interesting discussions about arts, design work, philosophy would develop…

In those 12 days, we took off only one afternoon. "The Gang" - that's how I like to call them now - brought me to a traditional honey wine place – and it was indeed time for a break – and it was a very enjoyable break. – And still days went by much too fast for me and I had the feeling that it was very hard for most of us to get back to “normal” life after that enjoyable productive time. At the plane on my way back to Thailand, I knew already that our wonderful but still unconventional designs would be challenging us in the next weeks and months in Bangkok…..

Verena, a friend of mine came to join us in Addis Abeba and she shot a documentary about those 12 days. (Check it out here at the blog, or click here to watch it at Google Video)

How The Abessinia Project Begins...

By Fanny Awaliana

The Abessinia Project was initiated by Lidwina Dox and Ami Zarchi. Lidwina, an Austrian designer, previously worked on several Design and Product Development projects, focusing on design and traditional crafts, in Ethiopia that were sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations. Because of the strong potentials for artistic skills in the country, the questions were raised on how to bring them further into creating a network of artists, and link the network with national and international projects, as well as companies and educational institutions. Ami, who runs a home-textile manufacturer in Thailand called Tel-Dan Ltd. since over two decades ago, jumped on board to answer the questions. Always looking for designs, creativity and talented individuals, he is very much in favour embracing fresh ideas, new angles and new sources of creativity from Ethiopia.

Their collaboration started in Summer 2006 with a first initiative where a group of Ethiopian artists, traditional painters and manuscript writers and icon painters were gathered for a two-week design workshop to create hand-drawn artworks. The artworks created a strong language that Ethiopia has developed in terms of artistic expression and design throughout the last decade, influenced by the rich cultural heritage. A multicultural project management was set up in Bangkok, Thailand, which consist of a project coordinator, a team of textile designer and a product development team. The project transforms the hand-drawn artworks into textile designs, and develop them further into home decor products. The project's name is "ABESSINIA", which represents its inspiration and the mission. The project does not only producing the artworks and producing home decor. It as well promotes the artistic potentials Ethiopia has, which are represented by the artists.