Akan Craftsmanship
Explores the traditional crafts of Akan cultures.
Location: Ghana
Akan Goldsmithing and Metalworking
Akan cultures gained most of their wealth through the abundant gold deposits of West Africa. The metal brought prosperous trade to the region and fueled the rise of empires like Bono, Denkyira, and Asante. Gold came to dominate inner Akan politics, worn as a status symbol by kings, chieftains, and their families. The goldsmiths who served noble families could also wear gold. This role and others like it were passed down through families as an ancestral tradition. A young artisan inherited his status from his father or maternal uncle.
The Akan believed that fire formed the spark of life. Smiths, who transformed metals into art and tools through fire, were therefore a class with divine responsibility. Their tools were blessed before use and considered sacred. When settlers departed to find a new home, a smith carrying his divine fire led the way. Goldsmiths continue to serve Akan courts today.
Lost-Wax Brass Casting Techniques
Before adopting coins and paper money, Akan societies used gold dust as currency. This made a widespread and accurate system of measurement essential for trade in the region. When a young man reached adulthood, his family gave him a set of standardized goldweights made of cast brass. These weights became their own form of art. Lost-wax casting, or creating molds from an original wax sculpture, allowed ornate detail in each weight.
Akan Stools and Woodcarving
Akan people also possess a long tradition of woodcarving. Like other artisanal classes, specialist families dominated the craft. Their most visible works are the stools and chairs used as public and private seating by adults. Only men created these stools. Menstruating women who went near working carvers faced penalties up to death. Men also carved tools and religious figures such as those carried by women to aid fertility.
Adinkra Stamps and Kente Weaving
There are two main textile arts associated with the Akan. Most commonly seen today is kente cloth, a woven fabric. Original kente cloth was made with raffia. Wealthy empires like the Asante purchased silks from traders, deconstructed the fabric into fibers, and then reworked it into kente. Once limited to royalty, kente is now commonly worn on special occasions such as weddings. Adinkra cloth, associated with funerals, is made from plain fabric stamped with adinkra symbols. The stamps themselves are made from calabash shell, the ink from boiled tree bark.
Akan Pottery
Women created pots for everyday use and for funeral rites. Unlike other crafts, pottery in Akan culture is a traditionally feminine one. Men sometimes make pottery, but only anthropomorphic figures for religious ceremonies. These vessels are a physical connection between ancestral spirits and their living relatives. They are kept at a sacred grove away from the gravesite.
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