West Africa in Manchester: Fabric, Patterns and Design

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

Visit now

West Africa in Manchester: Fabric, Patterns and Design

The Portico Library, Chinatown
24 February-8 April 2023
Date
Time
Session Features
24 Feb 2023
12:21 pm

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Kebin Dalton-Johnson
Book now

Manchester’s fabric history is well documented and the Portico will be hosting two women who designed patterns for fabrics made in Manchester for export to Ghana and Nigeria from the 1960s onwards. West Africa in Manchester is a conversation with Margaret Hickson and Ann. These two women worked on beautiful batik, floral and other designs inspired and informed by African decorative arts. They will bring their pattern books, material and designs to show how commissions were made to shimmer in the West African sunshine.

This event will explore objects related to Manchester’s fashion and fabric industry and makes us think Manchester’s place in the world. The talk will be chaired by Portico Drector (trustee) Kevin Dalton-Johnson, who is an internationally commissioned artist and the person who created Lancaster’s Captured Africans, the first public sculpture at a UK quayside to memorialise enslaved Africans.

What's on at The Portico Library

Where to go near West Africa in Manchester: Fabric, Patterns and Design

City Centre
Restaurant
Blinker

Elegant cocktail bar in the centre of Manchester, with a relaxed atmosphere and wonderfully friendly staff.

moose coffee manchester creative tourist
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Moose Coffee Manchester

Moose Coffee celebrates ‘the best meal of the day’ (brunch) in American style, with stack pancakes, potato hash, Huevos Rancheros and eggs any way. There’s always a queue.

Home-X
Manchester
Restaurant
Home-X

Home-X is the online spin-off of renowned Scottish-Italian chef Nico Simeone’s Six By Nico restaurant. This is geared around kit meals to cook at home.

Manchester
Restaurant
Pho Manchester

Pho does a fine line in pho, the noodle soup that’s a staple of Vietnamese street cuisine.

Manchester
Shop
Siam Smiles

Now based at the Great Northern, Siam Smiles is a food stop that’s hot on everyone’s lips.

Chinatown
Restaurant
Manchester Art Gallery Cafe

Summery bakes, seasonal salads and fresh light meals at Manchester Art Gallery’s in-house café, courtesy of highly-regarded Head Chef Matthew Taylor.

hunan chinese restaurant manchester
Chinatown
Restaurant
Hunan Restaurant

Hunan, a Chinese restaurant in Manchester’s Chinatown, may be a bit off the beaten track – but it’s all the better for that.

What's on:

Until
Activity
The Medieval Quarter Walking Tour

Explore Manchester’s Medieval Quarter on an architect-led walking tour uncovering the city’s oldest streets, historic buildings and centuries of hidden history.

From £20.00
Until
FamiliesCity Centre
Manchester Christmas Markets

The Manchester Christmas Markets are back for 2025, with many dozens of stalls in front of the town hall, and hundreds of traders spread across city-centre squares.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Sepia image of a courtroom with the words 'Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird’
Theatre in the North

Winter brings a huge haul of seasonal shows, as well as productions that resolutely veer away from the fairy lights.

Music in the North

Manchester’s closing out the year – and looking to the new one – with a run of gigs from some of the country’s best underground exports.

Exhibitions in the North

This season, exhibitions across the North West feel attuned to the world beneath the world – the forces and stories shaping how we see, feel and imagine.

A performer in a bright red costume sits on a snowy stage set, holding a large snowball between their legs with a surprised expression. The colourful winter backdrop features snowflakes, hills, a snowman, and a traffic light with glowing lights.
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.

Food and Drink in the North

Hear ye, hear ye. Take some eating-out tips from our wintertime guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.