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Peruvian Textiles –a Match for Machu Picchu?
by Frankie Owens - The Journal of Handweavers and Spinners, Wales, 2007
As I stood and looked down on the awesome sight of Machu Picchu shrouded in cloud forest at
the end of a three week tour of Perú, many would assume that this was the crowning highlight of
the tour, but they would be wrong! Wonderful as it is, Machu Picchu is matched in its brilliance
by the textile heritage of this country that stretches back to 2500 BC, when the use of fibres in
garments has first been detected by archaeologists.
Over the three weeks of the trip our experiences ranged from museums in Lima, with their amazing artefacts, to hand woven textiles crafted by master tapestry weaver Maximo Laura. We visited an alpaca farm and mill. We had textile workshops with Quechuan teachers and saw the work of Nilda Callanuapa encouraging villagers in reviving their ancient weaving skills.
There were twenty three of us in the very congenial group from eight countries, ranging in age
from 24 to over 70, united by a love of fibre and textile crafts. Sasha McInnes of Puchka Perú
Textile Tours, designed the very stimulating itinerary and managed it beautifully. Sasha was
educated in Perú and lived there for much of her youth and has a deep love of the country, its
people and its textiles. Her contacts meant we met and were taught by some of the leading
craftspeople of the country – a real privilege in both teaching and personal terms and we were
able to make visits and participate in events that other travelers to Perú miss out on. The work
shops really made the difference between what could have been an interesting travel tour of Perú
and a major creative experience. We not only learned craft techniques but acquired a greater cultural understanding of Perú and its people. The workshops were a high point of the trip. There
were three sessions spread through the three weeks, lasting 2 or 3 days each. Choice included
tapestry weaving, backstrap weaving, Andean knitting, braiding, hand and machine embroidery
and gourd engraving.
In each group we were taught by local experts who often had no English and sometimes no
Spanish either. We did wonder how we would cope with this, but need not have worried. Our
teachers were delightful people for whom nothing was too much trouble. Some like Rufina
Huayro, Elena Nunez, Florencio Sanabria, Leon Taype, Simona Cutipa and Panchita Velasquez
came to us from their remote villages to teach us and their skills were ones that had been passed
down the generations. Others, such as Maximo Laura and others from Taller Laura are internationally known. They are tapestry weavers, whose dramatic interpretations of nature and myth
lead to stunning wall hangings. It was remarkable how effective demonstration is in learning new
techniques – words are mostly irrelevant. Learning to knit using five short bicycle spokes,
hooked at one end and moving the wool with your thumbs is an experience I would not have
missed. The skills shown by the products brought along by our teachers were fantastic.
The main fibre used in knitting and weaving is alpaca, although there is wool available, but its
quality is much inferior. We were able to see alpaca and vicuna grazing on the mountains outside
Arequipa. These cameloids live on the high Andean plateaus at altitudes around 13,000 feet,
where the temperatures can drop to -13C. Alpacas have a wide range of natural colours from
white through to brown and black and their very fine fibre spins up into a soft, glossy yarn. We
were lucky to see vicuna, as very few are left, protected in a reserve in the Andes near the spectacular Colca canyon. They have a camel coloured fleece which is immensely expensive. In Are
quipa we visited the large alpaca mill run by Michel, seeing the raw fleece processed into to dyed
cones. Also we were also invited into the back rooms of Da Capo, a company, which produces
beautiful hand woven shawls, made from baby alpaca by local weavers in the high Andes. The
shopping opportunities were irresistible and we were glad we had brought extra bags which were
bulging on our return, with excess baggage costs being taken as a sign of success by our friends.
As we travelled around the country from Arequipa, centre of the Alpaca industry, to the remote
Colca canyon and on to Cusco, the Inca stronghold, there were many locals selling produce at the
roadside. Some was obviously mass produced for the tourist, but in many villages you could see
local people making it.
Local manufacture was very obvious in the villages around Cusco where the work of Nilda Callanuapa and others from her community has been pivotal. Nilda is from Chinchero and realised
that local weaving skills were vital for her village and the others around it, if the villagers were
to be persuaded to stay and not migrate to life in the slums in Lima. Each village has different
traditional patterns used in their backstrap weaving, but they needed to be encouraged to use
natural dyes and to go for a quality product. A group of very dedicated individuals set up the
Centre for Traditional Textiles in Cusco, where these textiles can be purchased with their particular village provenance. Local weavers also come to the centre to work, so that their techniques
can be seen. By charging a realistic price for this craft work the income enables the village to be
come self sustaining. The centre also houses a small museum highlighting the local crafts. Nilda
ran the backstrap weaving workshop we took in Cusco. Being taught by her was a great experience and certainly made me appreciate the amazing skills of the Perúvian weavers.
The use of natural dyes is increasing in modern Perúvian weaving and seeing the range of colours they can produce had the dyers in the group, including my daughter Katie, very excited.
Cochineal is used extensively as the beetles live in the prickly pear cactus which is very com
mon, and many indigenous plants are used to give a wide palette of colour for alpaca fibre used
in weaving and knitting. Spinning locally is still done on the puchka or drop spindle, but with a
different technique to ours and in the villages local women can still be seen going about their
business in local costume, spinning as they walk along.
For anyone interested in textiles a trip to Perú is an amazing treat. There is something fascinating
at every turn. Although Lima is not the most beautiful city, its museums such as the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Arqueologia e Historia and the Museo Amano house wonderful exam
ples of ancient textiles. In Arequipa alpaca reigns supreme and Cusco is the capital of the Incan
culture with all the wonderful local weaving. So when you reach Machu Picchu at the end of it
all, it is not surprising that it becomes only a part of the breathtaking experience that is Peru.
Frankie Owens traveled with PUCHKA Perú Textile Tours (www.puchkaperu.com , textiletours@puchkaperu.com)
Owens, Frankie. "Peruvian Textiles – a Match for Machu Picchu?" The Journal of Handweavers and Spinners 2007
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