Atelier NdopFoumban
Hands lifting a bundle of raffia-tied cloth out of an indigo pit dug in red earth, the cloth still green where it has just left the dye.

Atelier Ndop · Foumban

Dipped green. Blue in the air.

Hand-dyed ndop from our atelier in Foumban. The cloth leaves the indigo pit green and turns blue as it meets the air.

Make your own clothSee the collection

The story of ndop

A cloth of the Grassfields.

Ndop is the emblematic cloth of the traditional chieftaincies of the Cameroon Grassfields, in the West and North-West regions.

Hands sewing long, narrow strips of white cotton together on a wooden table, beside a coil of raffia.

  1. Strips, sewn into one cloth

    It begins as narrow strips of hand-spun cotton, woven on a loom and sewn edge to edge into one large sheet.

  2. Stitched, dyed, unpicked

    The motifs are drawn on the cotton, then stitched so tightly with raffia that the dye cannot reach them. After the indigo, the stitches are unpicked, and the motifs stay white on blue.

  1. Hung, worn, mourned in

    Ndop hangs as a royal backdrop at state events and ceremonies, and is worn by the fon and notables. It is a cloth of mourning too, at times a king’s shroud. Princes, princesses and queen mothers still wear it at festivals and funerals.

  2. Motifs that speak

    Paired leopards stand for Grassfields leaders. The lozenge filled with triangles evokes the crocodile, royal power and fecundity; the diamond recalls fertility and motherhood. Tarantulas, toads and lizards carry peace, fertility and prosperity. Moons and stars appear too, with no meaning recorded.

An indigo vat seen from above: a round clay pot of dark dye with a copper sheen and a crown of foam, set in red earth.

Ndop belongs to royalty and to mourning. We dye in its tradition and leave its meanings to those they belong to.

Ndop UI, the component library this page is built with, is named after this cloth.

Sources: Cleveland Museum of Art, The Met, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Kaji, 2023, Essel, 2021, Darnaude, 2023.

Make your own cloth

Choose a motif for each row.

We stitch your pattern in raffia, dye it in the pit, and unpick it by hand. Each motif below is one the sources record on ndop cloth.

Four rows: crocodile lozenges, moons, diamonds, stars. 8 motifs per row. Deep indigo, six dips.

Row 1 · Crocodile lozenge · Royal power and fecundity

Row 2 · Moon · Shown on ndop without a stated meaning

Row 3 · Diamond · Fertility and motherhood

Row 4 · Star · Shown on ndop without a stated meaning

Motifs per row

8

Depth of indigo

Off shows the cloth stitched, before the vat.

The collection

Four pieces, dyed this season.

Prices are fictional: this atelier is a design study.

How we make a piece

Stitch, dye, unpick.

  1. Hands stitching raffia around a lozenge drawn on white cotton, the cloth gathered into tight puckers.

    1 / 3

    Stitch

    We draw the motifs on white cotton and stitch around them with raffia, pulled so tight that the dye cannot reach them.

  2. Hands lifting dripping cloth out of an indigo dye pit, green turning to blue.

    2 / 3

    Dye

    The cloth goes into the pit and comes out green. In the air it turns blue, and every dip makes it deeper.

  3. Hands cutting raffia stitches from indigo cloth with a small knife, revealing the white shape they kept from the dye.

    3 / 3

    Unpick

    Once it has dried, we cut and pull out every stitch. The cotton they covered stayed white: those are the motifs.

A workshop courtyard of red earth, with indigo cloth drying on lines and two dye pits in the ground.

Visit

Come and see the vats.

Our courtyard is off the Rue des Artisans, in the Njiyuom quarter of Foumban. Mornings are the best time: that is when the cloth goes in.

Off the Rue des Artisans
Njiyuom, Foumban
West Region, Cameroon
Tuesday to Saturday, 8 am to 4 pm
Write to usatelier@example.com