Maridadi

When I lived in Nairobi I used to enjoy visiting Maridadi Fabrics, a small workshop making screen printed designs. Maridadi is Swahili for pretty, and the fabrics are stylish rather than pretty. At the time of my visits (the 1970s) some of the designs were by a designer from Finland and they were very attractive. It was interesting to go to the factory and watch the screen printing process carried out by African women from the Nairobi slums, being given employment by this project. I used to buy fabric by the metre and made up place mats and napkins and little dresses and shirts for my children. I still have several different place settings. The basic fabric came from Uganda and was very strong, it was called Jinja cotton.
I have just Googled Maridadi Fabrics and they are still there, but now they make church vestments! Quite a change.