Culture & Heritage
In Bonwire, the loom keeps time: a day with the weavers who make kente
Ashanti Region
Bonwire Kente Village, Ashanti Region
The historic home of Asante kente weaving, twenty minutes from Kumasi, where visitors can sit at a loom themselves.
Bonwire has woven kente for the Asante court since the seventeenth century. Narrow strips come off the loom at about ten centimetres wide and are sewn edge to edge into full cloths, each pattern carrying a name and a meaning.
Weavers work in open sheds along the main street and welcome visitors. Most will explain the pattern they are working on, and many offer a short lesson at the loom.
Prices depend on thread: cotton strips are affordable, silk and rayon cloths for ceremonial use run into the hundreds of dollars. Buying directly from the weaver is both cheaper and fairer than buying in Accra.
What to see
- Watching a full-width cloth being woven strip by strip
- A hands-on lesson at the loom
- Buying directly from the weaver at workshop prices
- Combining the visit with Ntonso adinkra stamping nearby
Getting there
- Taxi or trotro from Kumasi Kejetia towards Effiduase, about forty minutes.
- Most Kumasi operators run a craft-villages day covering Bonwire, Ntonso and Ahwiaa.
Get directions
Visitor tips
- Ask before photographing a weaver at work.
- Check whether a cloth is cotton or rayon before agreeing a price.
