Improving the Quality of Ghanaian Indigenous LeatherWork; Aternative strategies
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Date
2010-07-14
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Abstract
The timeless appeal of leather lies in its properties such as the luxurious texture, warm
colour, wholesome aroma, and exceptional durability. The world's love affair with
fine leather continues to be influenced as much by its appeal as a status symbol by the
aesthetic, utilitarian and economic value inherent the material. These collectively have
been the ubiquitous icon of leather as a material serving the socio-economic needs of
humanity of diverse backgrounds in an unprecedented manner. Besides its domestic
uses, leather is also employed in the seating and interior decoration of automobiles,
aircrafts, trains, trams, ships and submarines to demonstrate the enormity of its
industrial efficacy. In Ghana, however, the flair is contrary; leathers made locally face
hostility in industrial utility and applications, especially in the footwear, upholstery
(furniture), bag making, garment and clothing accessory sectors of artefact
production. Cobblers, upholsterers, bag makers and other major consumers of leather
in the country highly depend on imported leathers and leatherettes at high cost.
Although the local artisans in an attempt to salvage the indigenous leather industry
employ the material in making conventional artefacts such as native sandals, footrest,
hats, wallets, talisman and amulet to portray and project the cultural values of the
nation, the artefacts lack competitive ability and penetration capacity on the market.
The local leather is said to be the underscore factor. The poor utility of the local
leather has rendered the economic significance of the Ghanaian indigenous leather
industry inconsequential, particularly in contributing to national development. The
situation is deleterious and does not conform to the nation’s agenda of job and wealth
creation towards poverty reduction. The study was conducted with focus on finding
the reason(s) underlying the poor dependability of the local leather and subsequently,
finding alternative strategies to improve on the quality of indigenous Leatherwork
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practised in the country. In the study, the physical properties of the local leather was
assessed to establish its quality status, competence and aptness for industrial utility
and production of artefacts that bear the aura of quality and solutions to modern
leather needs. Since the material exhibits numerous deficiencies against the set quality
standards, the cause-and-effect relationship theory was employed to unearth the
causal reasons behind the material’s underperformance in properties. This was done
by subjecting the obligatory generic sectors of the leather industry to a cross-sectional
survey which unveiled manifold causes and causations of the defects to justify the
backdrop of the hostility the leather faces in utility in the industrial domains. The
study revealed four sets of findings: (1) the quality status of leathers tanned locally
was found as crusty and substandard, (2) there are natural ante-mortem causes; (3)
man-made ante-mortem causes; and (4) man-made post-mortem causes which render
the leather poor quality and less useful. With the findings as bases, practical
alternative strategies have been proposed to curtail the causes and causations of the
defects. It is hoped that when the strategies and ideas recommended are implemented
there would be improved delivery of quality local leathers to foster the economic
significance of Leatherwork in Ghana. The logical sequence of this dissertation is
chronologically presented in six chapters.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ART EDUCATION, December.