About Us
Threads of Peru is a collaboration aimed at educating the world about the unique beauty and cultural significance of the Andean people and their textile traditions. Through the web, community tours, and international sales, we connect indigenous Andean weavers of Peru to a global market; contributing to the survival of this art form and to the health and well-being of the people that sustain it.
Threads of Peru began when Adam Foster Collins and his university design class started Project Peru in Nova Scotia, Canada and contacted Ariana Svenson and Apus Peru in Cusco.
“The question: How can we use our Design skills to benefit people who are struggling in another part of the world, while helping ourselves through educational experience?”
The resulting collaboration led to a fundraising campaign in Canada, eleven designers travelling to Peru for hands-on education in the realm of indigenous Andean culture and weaving, and the creation of this website.
Now Threads of Peru has been established as a Peruvian NGO, and is branching out to create more projects and foster collaborations with other organizations and individuals.
What We Do
Threads of Peru has three main goals:Market
Through the web and international sales, Threads of Peru connects indigenous Andean weavers of Peru to a global market for their craft. We buy handmade textiles directly from weavers at fair market value. This price is set by the weavers themselves and we receive no discount. This way, the weavers have their money up front, and they make their own decisions about how to invest it. Once bought, Threads of Peru resells the items online with a markup which will sustain the website, the continued buying from the communities, and the costs of maintenance, shipping, and administration. Beyond these costs, all other profits from Threads of Peru are invested back into the communities through projects, which are carried out in cooperation with community members. Threads of Peru supports marketing projects, which help guide weavers in creating products that appeal to modern consumers, while complimenting and preserving their traditional methods of weaving.Educate
Threads of Peru seeks to educate the world about the Andean people and their traditions of making textiles. We combine our own observations with the collected experience of others to form an educational resource on the internet. We hope that this resource helps people see the impressive beauty of this tradition, the people who practice it, and the region they live in.We also offer the Threads of Peru Tour. Visit Peru and discover the Andean weaving world for yourself. From the markets in Lima and the factories of Juliaca, to remote mountain villages where weavers still tend their own flocks, shear the animals and spin the wool by hand. It’s a fun and active trip, with an emphasis on understanding the importance of textiles in Peruvian history and modern culture.
Support
Threads of Peru is focused on supporting communities through projects which increase the knowledge base of the weavers and their families.Such projects include:
Capacitation Workshops - Where skilled weavers share their knowledge with other weavers to preserve the ancient ways, as well as continuing to improve their weaving skills and the quality of products.
Creative Inspiration Workshops - These workshops include: Overnight community exchange trips, visits by expert weavers to the communities, exercises that inspire creativity and innovation in areas, such as their use of iconography, pattern, colour, and finishing techniques.
Adult Education Programs - For the education of indigenous people regarding modern economics, healthcare, childcare, family planning, etc.
Employing Teachers - To continue grade school education for the children of these often remote communities.
Building Projects - Such as schools, weaving houses, and washroom facilities.
There are many people and organizations promoting and supporting indigenous weaving communities in Peru. Threads of Peru seeks to act as a hub, connecting these like-minded people, collaborating to form a stronger collective entity.
All of us working together are infinitely more powerful than any of us working alone.
Current Community Projects
Threads of Peru are currently operating projects in high Andean communities which are located above Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. We work with the women of the weaving associations in the villages of Rumira Sondormayo, Chaullacocha and Chupani. Our work involves frequent meetings with the women of each assocation. After the development of weaving projects it became obvious that if Threads of Peru was to increase the income of the women, we also needed to provide capacitacion on how to spend their money responsibly, effectively and in the best interests of their family. Our monthly meetings include the following capacitacional aspects, delivered by Quechua speaking professionals/experts.The thread that ties the groups together and is the common theme is revitalising traditonal weaving traditions. Monthly meetings include workshops on dying, native plants, spinning, Andean iconography and weaving techniques. Improving the quality of the weaving, through capacitacion and insipration is a common theme. Weavers are inspired via weaver exchanges, field trips and visits by well known weavers.
"Better living" workshops include speakers on nutrition, hygiene, family planning, the effects of alcohol on the body and also empowerment that enables women to identify domestic violence.
Those women who are interested or have aptitude are also encouraged to take basic Spanish lessons, as well as administration and governance classes.
Plans include further developing the nutrition aspects of the program to include growing their own foods.
Project coordinators are currently investigating the possibilities of expanding into the communities of Yanamayo and Q'elkanka in 2010
Threads of Peru team members Ariana Svenson, Kelsey Quam and Urbano Huayna deep in conversation during a meeting with the women of Chaullacocha. Ariana and Kelsey(seated) ask questions, take notes, and observe while Urbano interprets and explains things to the women of the community.
Community Liasion Coordinator, Urbano Huayna, shows the women of Chaullacocha a finely woven "llicla" from the Ausangate region of Peru. He is explaining that the women need to improve their weaving to that kind of standard.
Urbano Huayna discusses the iconography in a handmade scarf in the community of Chupani.
Kelsey Quam, Urbano Huayna and Martin Huaman Quispe (Apus Peru staff member) evaluate the women's weaving in Chupani.