Creative Hands: Acquiring an industrial textile archive

Creative Hands Foundation has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to explore a Manchester factory’s links to West African textiles and culture.  ABC Wax in Hyde had direct links with Akosombo Textiles Ltd in Ghana and from the 1900’s to 2007 the factory produced textiles for Manchester’s West African community. 

A collection of these textiles are on display at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) but the story behind them has never been told. 

Now a team of volunteers will set out to change that. They will identify and record, interpret and explain the history and importance of West African textiles designed and produced by ABC Wax and preserve and promote this heritage to a wider audience. 

They will interview West African people to record their explanations and interpretations of motifs and colours used in wax printed textiles and explore the techniques and methods used to create the designs in the 1900s to present day. 

Volunteers will receive accredited training in Basic Rudiments of Filming and Introduction to Photography.  They will also be trained in capturing oral history and facilitating a workshop.  They will capture, record and document stories from West African people in Manchester and Ghana and learn how West African culture and tradition influences textile designs. 

 In 1966, ABC Wax was the last wax printing company in the UK.  They had been designing and producing wax printed fabrics for the West African market since the 1900’s.  In 2007 production finally stopped and ABC Wax, the production team and machinery were transferred to Akosombo Textiles Ltd (ATL) factory in Akosombo, Ghana.  British designs of wax printed textiles are now being produced in Ghana.  The last remaining manager at ABC Wax, design team, artefacts and archives of fabrics can still be found in Hyde, Manchester. 

A project film will be created and shown at events in Manchester. 

A film documentary portraying the heritage of Manchester, which started in Hyde, since 1900 and the movement of ABC wax to Akosombo Textiles Ltd in Ghana. We explore the history of ABC Wax and ATL, the designs, and the manufacturing process of wax printed textiles dating from 1900 – 2015. 
It included oral histories recording and photographs from West Africans in Manchester and Ghana giving their interpretation and explanation of the motifs, colours, textures and patterns used in wax printed textiles. We also exhibited the work produced by the volunteers, women’s group and schools.

Find out more at https://creativehandsfoundation.org/hlf-project/