Taking care of native communities, nurturing and preserving their traditions while offering you nothing but top quality, hand made products.
The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC) is a non-profit organization that was established in 1996 by Andean weavers and their supporters. The mission of the Center is to aid in the survival of Cusqueñan textile traditions and to provide support to the indigenous people who create them. The Center works with ten weaving communities in the Cusco region of Peru on a fair-trade basis to help rescue traditions and promote the weavers and their work. Through community organization, workshops, educational opportunities and more the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco ensures that there is a future for Cusqueñan textile traditions.
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The Education and Community Development departments of the CTTC carry out different educational projects, as well as dictate workshops, organize contests, trainings, among others, which make each community develop work based on the organization and group work of the 10 associations.
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Today the Center support groups of weavers in ten villages, spread across the Department of Cusco. Each community weaving association is encouraged to be independent and self-sufficient, relying on themselves, and incorporating elder weavers as mentors for younger generations.
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One Weaving at a Time This heirloom quality textile was woven by an Inca decedent in the old Inca Capitol-Cusco region. With your purchase, you are not only supporting a Quechua weaver and their family, you will be part of our Andean Cultural Preservation
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Be a part of an awesome experience
Come see for yourself
The main store is located in the heart of Cusco, exactly next to the Qoricancha. It has a variety of pieces belonging to the 10 communities as well as you can find weavers doing weaving demonstrations. The "Weaving Lives" Museum that has free entry shows and explains the weaving process
Horarios de atención
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday : 8:30 am – 18:00 pm Saturday: 9:30 am – 17:00 pm Sunday : closed
The 1st Textile Center of Chinchero, which has a large store with a variety of products from the 10 communities, the weavers meet every day to weave their different pieces, in turn they give demonstrations of the weaving process..
Horarios de atención
Mon – Fri 9:00 am – 4:30 pm ; Sat 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Come and learn how the locals do it
Learning to weave on a traditional backstrap loom is a challenging but rewarding experience. Children begin learning when they are about 6-8 years old. The first textiles they weave are thin ribbons called jakima. Your instructor will guide you through the ancient process of learning to weave on a jakima, beginning with plain-weave and moving on to simple designs. For those with prior experience, the class starts with more complex designs on larger textiles such as the chumpi, or belt.
Have you ever wondered how weavers use a simple drop spindle to produce the huge quantities of thread they need to create their beautiful textiles? How do they keep the spindle spinning, and what really are the mechanics behind it? Learn the answers to all of these questions and more as you practice making your own alpaca thread with a pushka, the Quechua word for drop spindle. Spinning instructors from the different communities one-on-one instruction to help you master the deceptively simple art of spinning.
Bring culture to life
The first weavers center, the Away Riqcharicheq Weaving Association in Chinchero, a community located about 45 minutes outside the city of Cusco on the highway to Urubamba, is home to the original group of weavers who started the CTTC. Learn from the masters about the art of weaving in the Andes and browse the CTTC store where you can directly support the weavers through the purchase of their fine textiles.
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Andean weavers are currently facing multiple difficulties due to the consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Before the outbreak of the pandemic, Cusco visitors used to support the continuity of their traditional art by purchasing their exquisite textiles. Their cultural production has become their main source of income since their.
weaving associations partnered with the CTTC.
Now, in the middle of the state of emergency in Peru, their livelihoods have been put at risk. In these challenging times, the weavers need our support more than ever. We can all help these extraordinary textile artists to continue.
preserving their traditions while making a living through the preservation of their ancestral art.
Please consider donating to our fund to aid the weavers from the ten weaving associations that are part of the
CTTC family.
CTTC is dedicated to the recovery and revitalization of ancestral textile techniques and traditions.The knowledge of ancestral textiles is an art inherited through several generations. A child learns textile practices from parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents. Providing motivation to continue to cherish these practices as he or she grows and ensuring a higher and sustainable quality of life through these practices is essential.
You can also empower and support traditional weavers through donations, purchases, and ethical tourism. Let´s keep the sustainable practice of ancestral textiles alive.
