A handwoven kente cloth in the Adweneasa pattern — 'my skill is exhausted' — reserved historically for royalty. Each stripe is a saying; each color a season of harvest.
Each Alkebulan piece is documented with its maker, its origin, and the practice that produced it. Acquiring this work supports Tafari directly and contributes a portion to the preservation of highland weaver.
Story, meaning, and making — the way a museum would tell it.
Carved over six weeks in Bahir Dar, this piece was begun on the morning of the new moon — a date kept by Highland carvers for work that crosses thresholds. The wood was felled from a tree that had stood for nearly a century, and was blessed by an elder before the first cut.
The geometric crown holds the four directions; the inlaid bronze tears mark grief turned to wisdom. To place this work at a threshold is to ask the ancestors to bless those who pass — a gesture of welcome and of memory, carried in every household that has kept this tradition alive.
Hand-carved with adze and chisel, the surface was burnished with palm oil and finished with a slow smoke-curing that draws the grain to the surface. The bronze inlay was poured by lost-wax casting in a workshop the artist's family has kept for four generations.
Tafari weaves on the same loom his great-grandfather built. His textiles carry the geometries of the Ethiopian highlands — each thread a measure of land, memory, and patience.
"An object of true presence. The carving holds a quiet authority — it now stands at the entrance of our home, and visitors stop without being told to."
"I grew up seeing pieces like this in my grandmother's house. Holding one made by a hand from home is a different kind of belonging."
"The detail in the bronze inlay is extraordinary. Shipping took longer than expected, but the wait was worth it."
