Weavers of the Clouds: Textile Arts of Peru – Craft and Travel’s favourite exhibition of the year?
By admin
Image: Sebastian Castenada
(This is my preview post, see my review from when it opened here.)
To say I’m excited about the forthcoming Weavers of The Clouds exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum in London would be an understatement. I am ecstatic they have chosen to have a major exhibition that celebrates international crafts, which are the core values of this very blog Craft and Travel.
Craft and Travel
I’ve been championing crafts from around the world for a long time and have made it known many times that my ambition is to travel the world learning about different crafts (and the fact I’d love to make a TV programme about the topic too.) I’ve spoken about the value of international crafts at events and even at job interviews. I noticed that a job I didn’t get last year has recently starting putting out content about global crafts. I can’t feel bitter about this, on one side they’ve clearly taken my idea but on the other they’re spreading the creativity of artisans to an audience far bigger than mine.
Lonely Planet
Having said that I was really chuffed this week to do an Instagram Stories Takeover for Lonely Planet on ‘world crafts’, I also noticed they sent a newsletter to their subscribers on the same subject a couple of days earlier, so it’s good to see crafts from other cultures getting appreciated by more people.
Weavers of The Clouds exhibition
But back to the exhibition. Weavers of the Clouds runs 21st June – 8 September 2019 and will be showcasing colourful textiles from Peru (aka my kind of crafts!) It’s a major exhibition that will take place throughout the museum and features Peruvian fashion, different types of Peruvian textiles like Andean weaving techniques and objects. Some are from private collections and national museums such as full costumes, tapestries, adornments, trimmings and accessories, alongside painting, photos and illustrations. If these press shots in my post are anything to go by it will be truly stunning.
Amongst the displays will be outfits by contemporary Peruvian designers including Meche Correa, Chiara Macchiavello and Mozhdeh Matin and prominent brands; KUNA and Peruvian Connection. I’ve never heard of any of them which is why I’m extra keen to see what they have in store. They all work with numerous traditional techniques still practised in communities today, including embroidery, handwoven trimming, appliqué, crochet and knitwear.
Going to Peru to see crafts and learn about Peruvian culture for myself is on my craft and travel bucketlist but until then, this exhibition will have to fill in the gap.
See you at the opening?
