A Living Culture of Textile
Peruvian sisters Marta and Sandra Castaneda Landazuri have years of experience in social development and design, respectively.
After spending several years working on development programs, Marta founded Cumpi Camayoc (meaning "Master Weavers" in Quechua) in 2011, with the vision to accelerate social development through crafts and manufacturing. In 2013, she implemented and designed a project with Tejedores de Cajamarquilla (Cajamarquilla weavers), a group of men and women artisans who migrated from the Andes to the outskirts of Lima, and founded a center to recover pre-Hispanic textile techniques. Cumpi Camayoc also works with weavers in the Cajamarca region in the northern part of Peru.
Today, led by Marta and her sister Sandra, Cumpi Camayoc uses the trademark Pais Textil to present pre-Hispanic back-strap loom weaving in contemporary designs for home and personal accessories, generating fair wages for the artisans and enhancing the value of traditional Peruvian handicrafts.
The products from Pais Textil are entirely handmade with mercerized Pima and Tangüis cotton, or naturally colored cotton, which are also spun by hand.
All the final finishes and embellishments are inspired by traditional items such as belts, slingshots, and tassels of the Andean world.
Photos: Bottom left by Marta Castaneda; all others by Cecilia Larrabure
Text: Courtesy of Cumpi Camayoc
