Our Andean Textile Arts board recently had a scouting visit to Peru (and Ecuador) and we are so very pleased to report that we feel able to begin our textile tours again in the fall of 2023! We found the weavers eager to show us all that they have been working on during the pandemic and especially excited for tours to start up again! We’ve even added an optional extension to Ecuador that we expect will be very popular. And, once again, Raul Jaimes will be our guide in Peru. In addition to our fall tour, we have one to Bolivia as well. We are finalizing the costs and exact itineraries for both tours, but we have dates: PERU FALL … Read More
Cataloging & Using Traditional Designs
The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) has long understood the importance of documenting weaving designs, techniques, and other textile traditions that were disappearing over time. One of the early goals was to create a simple design catalog as a physical archive documenting a woven example of each design and its name. In 2020, the CTTC completed the documenting of the designs from all ten communities, finishing it during Covid, which helped to maintain contact with the weavers. In 2021, the CTTC expanded the design catalog from a physical archive to a digital database, taking photos of all the designs and collecting histories from the weavers about each design. By the end of this year, all of the CTTC’s … Read More
Congratulations, CTTC Interns!
As part of its 2022/2023 grant requests, the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) asked for the support of the ATA community to create an internships program for young weavers, aimed at developing the next generation of leadership for the CTTC and the weaving communities. You all gave generously to our spring 2022 campaign, and we were able to fund a grant that has already brought three young weavers to work at the center in Cusco. All three interns have learned new skills and provided valuable help to the CTTC’s programs. Alesandro “Sandro” Hayme, from Accha Alta, is 19 years old, and he has been interning in retail operations. He says the work in the CTTC store has been … Read More
Celebrating Peru’s Ancestral Textiles
On the third of November, the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) held a “Celebration of Ancestral Textile Arts” to mark the unveiling of its newly remodeled store, educational center, and office building in central Cusco. Throughout the day, representatives from the CTTC’s ten weaving associations spread across the sunlit green lawn of the Qorikancha, the most important temple in all of Incan culture, to work on backstrap looms, show off naturally dyed yarn, and talk with locals and tourists as interested passersby filled the wide sidewalk along the lawn. Dignitaries including the CTTC’s executive director Nilda Callañuapa, the CTTC’s board president Miryam Luna, and the mayor of Cusco, Víctor G. Boluarte Medina, all spoke warmly about the important … Read More