Meet your mentor… me!

I recently joined the Awamaki Lab project to help mentor design students and pair them with sustainable and traditional production methods in Peru.  Below is the outline of the project, which I spoke about during my lecture at FIT last week.

Awamaki Lab explores the intersection of sustainability, ethical sourcing and product innovation through a fashion mentorship program that fosters cross-cultural partnership between design students and Awamaki’s indigenous weavers collective.

Recognizing the next generation of design talents, Awamaki Lab offers selected participants an unparalleled opportunity to develop a capsule collection in the serene environment of Ollantaytambo, Peru. Designers incorporate traditional Andean textiles into a series of unique, one-off garments, sourcing these textiles directly from Awamaki and its association of 36 Quechua women weavers. Over the course of four months, designers cultivate their unique vision and showcase their aesthetic versatility by combining vibrant, hand-spun weavings with their own contemporary patterns and silhouettes.

Bridging the material-culture gap, Awamaki introduces designers to the prominent iconography and art history of the Sacred Valley, with trips to museums, artisan markets, and indigenous weaving communities. Designers can use these visits as a point of reference for their work, or further their education by taking hands-on courses to learn local craft techniques, such as the art of natural dyeing. Designers have complete creative freedom to incorporate these elements into their collections, as they see fit. Designers receive mentorship from leaders in the socially responsible design sector to gain insight into fashion-market trends, volley design ideas, and finalize collection details. Designers also work with a fashion photographer – whom they pre-select from a dossier of portfolios- to develop a lookbook during the last month of Lab, which will be publicized through Awamaki’s online networks.

Through an iterative process, designers hone their artistic skills and lend a modern perspective to Awamaki’s range of products. This will improve the organization’s marketability and help to stimulate economic growth in the isolated, rural communities where Awamaki works.

Download the Awamaki Lab information brochure here.