Friday 7 September 2012

GOOD JUJU

Do you know what a Juju hat  is? (also known as a Tyn or a Bamileke headdress)

If you have ever so much as glimpsed at any design blog on planet internet then you will do. 

If not, here's a quick run down in a few sentences. They come from Cameroon and are traditionally worn by tribal chiefs or other important folk. They originally were made from parrot or exotic bird feathers. In their natural habitat they look like this:



In design bloglandia they look like this:



Oh so pretty.

The problem is that Juju hats are laik, sooo 2010. They suddenly went mainstream and ended up all over the place so now they're as common as... well, like its says here, they're pretty much as common as those effing "Keep Calm signs" that need to just give up and die off already. 

Anyways, I look them up every now and then and the love is still strong. I desperately want one and I don’t care if they’re now out of favour with all the interiors folk. Whatevs. 

They’re expensive - but then again they are a sign of wealth in Cameroon - this is obviously the same here because if I have one up in my house it basically says that I have enough money to spend $300 on a bunch of dyed chicken feathers (which is what they're now made of). 



There's a quick close up. When they're not being used they can fold up neatly into themselves. Cameroonian engineering genius.

However, of all the gajillions of blogs that I’ve looked at about Juju hats - I haven't actually found any that showed the hats in their natural home of Cameroon. So here we are, nice pretty juju hat in styled interior vs the juju hat where it's supposed to be, on someones head 

So here goes.
On the head..


On the wall...

On the head.. and with an elephant mask (isn't that amazing? read up about them here)


aaaaaand...on the wall
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on the head... 
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On the wall. Ok I think you get the picture now.
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Seriously this pic above is amazing.

via and no credit


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(Yes I will also take that Suzani quilt thank you very much)

While we're on the subject of pretty things on walls that are round (it's technical over here ) here's another alternative I've just seen and think are really pretty by Lorna SysonDon't they look cool? Want Want Want.



Ok. C'est tout.

TTFN

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