Batik-Tye And Dye Makers Go To School

Batik, tye and dye makers in the country are being mobilised and trained to come out with products that would meet the standards and taste of European, American, Sub-Regional and Regional markets.

The integrated programme of training would eventually involve designers and is expected to imprint ideas of style right from the stages of production of the prints.

Mr Epiphanie Edo Edjosson, Secretary General of the International Centre for Resources and Support for Sustainable Development (CERAD) said this last Tuesday in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), during a training programme for 20 tye-dye makers from Benin, Togo and Ghana. The training is under the auspices of Council of Artisans, which is based in Ho in the Volta Region.

Mr Edjosson said the objective of CERAD was to raise skills of cloth makers to produce hand made designs that reflected the African aesthetics. He said duplicating European clothing styles would keep Africans out of the international clothes market.

Madam Mirjam floor Belen, a Dutch Dye Expert took the trainees through lessons in colour blending, colour mixing, design printing and colour coding.

Mr Kofi Setordzi, an artist, who was part of the training team said the course would enable participants reduce cost and be more competitive. He said producers could now produce materials in pastel colours, the types cherished by Europeans.

Mr Setordzi said the training would deal with the sameness in designs currently on the market, as producers could now impress their own motives on designs.

Mr Pitah Keh, President of the Council of Artists said, Ghana at 50, next year was "old enough" to have clothes and designs that reflected the culture of the people. He suggested that Ghanaians made clothes were made to become the norm for workers.

Papa Jones Klu, Counsellor of the Artisans Council urged government to remove bottlenecks in sub-regional trade.