What is a tapa pattern?

What is a tapa pattern?

The patterns of Tongan, Samoan, and Fijian tapa usually form a grid of squares, each of which contains geometric patterns with repeated motifs such as fish and plants, for example four stylised leaves forming a diagonal cross. Traditional dyes are usually black and rust-brown, although other colours are known.

What do tapa designs represent?

Textiles were often specially prepared and decorated for people of rank. Tapa was ceremonially displayed on special occasions, such as birthdays and weddings. In sacred contexts, tapa was used to wrap images of deities. Even today, at times of death, bark cloth may be integral part of funeral and burial rites.

Where do tapa patterns originate from?

The Polynesian tapa tradition likely originated from the Lapita people who explored the Pacific roughly three thousand years ago. Art historians and anthropologists have argued that the same patterns used on Lapita pottery, barkcloth, and possibly tattoos are still evident in the ngatu made in Polynesia today.

When was tapa created?

As early as the sixth century B.C., trees of the Moraceae family were used to produce a bark cloth in Asia. The preferred species, Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry was later introduced into the Pacific islands, particularly Polynesia where the art of decorated bark cloth, tapa, flourished.

What is a tapa made of?

Bark cloth, or tapa, is not a woven material, but made from bark that has been softened through a process of soaking and beating. The inner bark is taken from several types of trees or shrubs, often mulberry and fig, and designs are applied with paints and vegetable dyes of light brown, red, and black.

What is tapa worth?

It is highly ornamented with polychrome designs rich in imagery. Though there are fewer collectors for Amazonian works, Mr. Steele’s tapa prices range from $3,500 to $20,000.

What is TAPA worth?

Is Tapa a textile?

The fabric is called Tapa, a flexible cloth made from wood. Traditionally made on the island of Tonga, it is created from the bark of the paper mulberry tree. Rather than being knit or woven from a spun thread, the material begins in its original form as a sheet of wood.

Is tapa a textile?

How is a tapa made?

What is tapa bark cloth?

What is tapa and how is it made?

What’s Tapa? Tapa-making is a traditional art form whereby the inner bark of certain trees is softened and pounded into sheets of cloth, then bound together using natural starches such as root crop.

What is the background color of a tapa?

Often, the initial background color (the reddish-brown hue) is applied while the cloth is set upon the long, low table. The moist cloth is rubbed over the tapa so that the pattern on the table-top manifests on the tapa, similar to a grave rubbing.

Where can I find tapa cloth?

The Tongans continue to be the most prolific tapa producers in the Pacific and the world. The Kingdom of Tonga is particularly well suited to the production of tapa cloth because their climate and soil conditions are ideal for the cultivation of paper mulberry ( Broussonetia papyrifera ), a common source of barkcloth.

What is the difference between bark cloth and tapa cloth?

Bark cloth is manufactured for everyday needs such as room dividers, clothing, and floor mats, as well as ceremonial uses in weddings and funerals. Though there are a variety of local names, the word tapa, originally from Tahiti, is commonly used to refer to bark cloth made all over the world.