Solomon Marfo Ayesu^1*, Mercy Ampofowah Osei², Cynthia Akua Chichi³, Richard Acquaye⁴

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¹ Department of Fashion Design and Textiles Studies, Kumasi Technical University, Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana.
² School of Fashion and Design (Blue Crest College), Accra, Ghana.
³ Department of Industrial Art, KNUST-Kumasi, Ghana.
⁴ Department of Textiles Design and Technology-Takoradi Technical University, Takoradi, Ghana.
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Abstract: Festivals are intrinsic aspects of the culture of a group of people and allow displaying interesting crafts and elements such as fabrics, symbols, folktales, and paraphernalia. The dynamism in the culture is vast but unexplored as inspiration for the creation of products. This created the need to explore the possibility of designing contemporary print and products from these crafts and elements from two festivals (Aboakyir and Gologo) using Adobe Photoshop in the design process. This phenomenon necessitated the consideration of this project which was undertaken by employing the design-based practice coupled with observation as an instrument. Elements related to the festivals were identified and using the design process, print designs were developed and further simulated on different products. This practice seeks to promote the cultural heritage of the people to a wider populace and the world at large. It is recommended that the Traditional Council should have a museum or gallery for keeping the artworks used in their festivals for archival purposes.

Keywords: Festivals, Cultural Elements, Adobe Photoshop, Fashionable Products, Paraphernalia

Cite this paper: Ayesu, S. , Osei, M. , Chichi, C. and Acquaye, R. (2020) Festival Elements: A Source of Inspiration for Contemporary Fashionable Products. Journal of Textile Science and Technology, 6, 200-217. doi: 10.4236/jtst.2020.64017.

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