Vintage Barkcloth purses hitting the gallery

We have a new artist joining the gallery who makes great hobo bags out of vintage barkcloth fabric. That's the very cool, retro textile from the 50s and 60s.


Technically, barkcloth was a material once common in Asia, Africa, Indonesia and the Pacific and came from trees of the Moraceae family. It was made by beating sodden strips of the fibrous inner bark of these trees into sheets, which were then finished into a variety of items.

The textile that we call barkcloth is not made in this fashion, but got the name because it has a rough surface like that of tree bark. This barkcloth is usually made of densely woven cotton fibres and has been used in home furnishings, such as curtains, drapery, upholstery, and slipcovers.

Is that just too much information?