Textile art is the most important art in Peru. It appears in the country during the pre-Ceramic period (Approximately 2,000 B.C) once man finishes the domestication of cotton and fibers.
In the beginning, Peruvian textiles went through a slow and rudimentary evolution. It began with the gathering of natural materials, such as bulrush, ichu or Andean grass, the totora, the chiligua, the stalk of maguey and so on. The ancient Peruvian processed the maguey into ropes or cabuyas, which later were woven using curve stitching, into bags – locally know as sigras –that are other hand, ichu fiber, or grass of the Andes, and chiligua are used to build hanging bridges. Afterwards, looms technique was created, standing out waist gallop, also the telar de cuatro estacas (four stake loom) or telar de ahua. All are of common use in the Altiplano.
The weavers practice skills that have been passed down from generation to generation. The designs, colours and quality of the textiles vary from one region to another and play and important part in defining personal and community identity. Many of the symbols portrayed on the weavings are visual metaphors representing the relationship that the Quechua people have with the physical and spiritual world around them.
Animal and vegetable fibers are fundamental to the textile industry, In Peru; the finest animal fiber used in the textile industry is the vicuña, which is also considered one of the finest in the world. In antiquity this material was made into the inca tunic or unku and currently it is used to manufacture articles of great commercial value. Next in quality is the alpaca fiber, through grea artistic work this fiber is turned into beautiful tapestries such as the ones manufactured in the district of Santa Ana (Ayacucho), fine Andean ponchos, produced in many locations of Cusco and Puno, detailed hand-sewn three dimensional textile pictures called arpilleria (patchwork) made in the district of Pamplona (Lima) and fine baby alpaca sweaters, which are woven in Arequipa and Huancavelica. Some textiles are embellished with Andean embroidery, faithful testimony to the mastery of the Peruvian craftsman.
Presently, the fibers used more often in the Andes, in the regions of Puno, Cusco, Huancavelica, Arequipa and Junin, are the alpaca, vicuña, llama, sheep, among others; meanwhile in the coastal regions of Piura, Lima, Ica and Lambayeque, fine cottons are woven into beautiful products. We must mention that Pyma cotton is of Peruvian origin and is considered one of the finest cottons in the world.
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