Covering and adorning the body with cloth were among humanity's earliest forms of artistic and symbolic expression - meeting essential needs for the display of status, wealth, power, cultural or ethnic identity, and spiritual and ritual efficacy, as well as for protection and practicality.
The textile arts are known to retain archaic traits across millennia. Yet this art form has also offered infinite opportunities for visual and technical innovation, for the development of deep knowledge about plant and animal fibers, dye plants and other colorants, and for the invention of dyeing, weaving and surface decoration techniques. Among all the world's peoples, textiles are a medium for aesthetic exploration and for the transmission of culture and tradition.
The dealers of SFTribal include experts and market leaders in a variety of historic textile traditions, particularly from Africa, the Andes, Japan, Indonesia and South East Asia. Here you will find collectable and museum-quality textiles, not only a wide range of beautiful and important ceremonial weavings and garments, but bark cloth, tapa, and dimensional objects constructed or woven with fiber, such as basketry, or multiple materials such as ritual and prestige headgear.