Nilda Callañaupa and Flora Callañaupa

Peru

Year(s) attended: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 (with Jenny Huarhua Callañaupa), 2010 (with Flora Callañaupa), 2011

Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC)

Woven Textiles

Textiles in the Andes are an important social and ethnic marker and a significant part of the cultural patrimony. Each community uses a different combination of designs and colors that reflect their connection with the earth through agriculture, cosmology, and other aspects of nature.

Founder and director of CTTC, Nilda Callañaupa was born in Chinchero Village near Cusco, Peru. She began spinning wool from sheep and alpaca at the age of six, and was weaving her first patterns by age seven. CTTC weavers, such as Nilda and her sister, Flora, are remarkable in the quality of the textiles that they produce as well as their emphasis on traditional designs and techniques.

The CTTC now works with over 450 weavers and 250 children in nine communities. The work of the Center is not just to preserve and to study Peruvian textiles, their symbolism and significance, but also to assist families to create a larger market for their textiles and a new economy for their communities.