Nilda Callañaupa Álvarez

Nilda Callañaupa Álvarez is a founder and director of the Center forTraditional Textiles of Cusco through which she has endeavoured, as aweaver, to preserve the tradition of fine handmade pieces and topromote the economic development of the weavingfamilies in tencommunities around the city.The textiles of Nilda Callañaupa Álvarez and her community are madefrom sheep and alpaca wool, then dyed with natural plants and wovenon back strap looms. This process, inherited through generations datingback to long gone cultures of ancient Peru, retains patterns and motifsnow millenia old.The artisans of the cooperative make ponchos, blankets, shawls,tablecloths and bedspreads in their own time as they mix this activitywith their daily work as farmers.One of the first women in her community to attend university, she, inaddition to that, studied for one semester at the Pacific Basin of Artschool in Berkeley, California and authored 4 books on Peruvian weavingwhilst also co-authoring another book centered on weaving bycommunities of elderly people in the Peruvian Andes.Her project to raise and bring awareness to the richness of traditionalQuechua textiles, has gained substantial international support andallowed her to globally showcase these ancestral techniques of Quechuaweaving masters.

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