vasemaca tavola

Lacadrau – study (2025)

Silk, cotton, polycotton, polyester, thread.

Constructed as a study of the Fijian word for quilt, lacadrau. In a recent interview with my father, Kaliopate Tavola, he broke down the word as, “Laca – a kind of a sail, drau – hundreds: making hundreds of pieces of things to make a lacadrau”. He went on to find the word in the Fijian dictionary, reading the definition as: “Tikitiki ni isulu cula semasema, veitaqavi kei na dua na tikina raba me dakuna, me itutuvi se iuba ni imocemoce. So, basically, using pieces of cloth joined together and put on top of another bigger, wider cloth, to provide a backing for it, and used as a blanket, or to put on top of beds. Lacadrau.” (K. Tavola, personal communication, 11 May 2025).

In preparing for an upcoming collaborative quilt project involving uniform triangular pieces, I made this out of the off-cuts. The same precious, storied textiles, re-purposed as a composition of 100 parts. Not made with a backing, but each seam sewn flat-felled, creating a thick grid of connection between disparate pieces. I love the way it moves and changes with the light.

Made of silks and cottons, elei fabrics, sari, chunky cotton dobby, bedspreads softened from a 100 washes, African wax print and textiles gifted and collected over 30 years. A patchwork portrait in cloth.