Sustainable Luxury, Craftsmanship and Vicuna Poncho
33
animals died during the first chaku. Now, we conduct chakus quickly and in silence,
and we have a special net which does not hurt vicuñas when they crash against it;
instead, they bounce and we hold them for shearing. In the past, we used tarps, which
banged in the wind and scared vicuñas”. The first recorded chaku took place on 30
November 2003.
After shearing, the sheared fleece is divided: 10% to the owner of the land where
the chaku took place; 20% to the province, which sells it to other artisans at a
subsidised price; and 70% to the Co-operative. Co-operative members split fleece
in equal shares. They also buy fleece from the landowner to increase their share.
Co-operative members classify and remove bristles
10 from fleece. This is a very
important manual process since clean fleece results in subsequent garment softness.
Gutiérrez explains
11 that “… we don’t sell wool, especially now that we are learning
so much from the co-operative movement. Sometimes we buy fleece from the land
owner because we use it. Our purpose has never been to sell the raw material but to
add value to it; so, we sell a minimum percentage because the Co-operative needs that
money to pay annual taxes and for the minimum expenses required for our structure
operation. Until three years ago, we used to sell such percentage as shorn, but now we
sell it with the bristles removed, creating a source of employment for young people
who haven’t started weaving yet”.
After shearing, classification and bristle removal, yarn production begins. In
Laguna Blanca, spinning is an emblematic activity.
Historian Cruz [6] explains that, before revitalising the interaction with vicuñas,
the area was visited by intermediaries and weavers to get fine yarns. Besides, Cruz
describes an activity called the “vicuña minga”, i.e. an artisan invited other artisans to
her house to help her with vicuña fibre spinning—the most time-consuming stage in
the production process. Besides a compensation in money or in kind per spun ounce,
the minga involved expertise, learning and social interactions between comadres,
12
friends and neighbours. The collective labour organisation included meals and usually finished with a symbolic compensation that legitimised the process as a mutual
help and co-operation relationship: regional dance and dining. Once the labour at the
artisan’s house was completed, artisans were available to collaborate with another
fellow artisan [6, p. 4].
Nowadays, after yarn spinning, artisans may choose to use—all natural—solid
colours or to combine them in a pattern. This is how the raw material transformation
stage is complete and they get ready for the weaving process.
Back to Cruz [6], the historian argues that, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, besides weaving textiles for domestic purposes, the weaving population of
these regions used textiles as regional trading currency.
13
10 To remove the bristles means to clean camelid fleece, removing coarse hair so that it becomes
softer to touch. Explanation given by different Andean artisans.
11 Ibid 6.
12 Comadre refers to a neighbour and friend with whom a woman has a closer, trusted relationship
than with other women. Source: Diccionario de la Lengua Española, Real Academia Española.
13 During the colonial era, the regional trading currency [Monedas de la Tierra] was used in areas of
Paraguay and the River Plate that were far away from the larger centres. Objects used as currency
33
animals died during the first chaku. Now, we conduct chakus quickly and in silence,
and we have a special net which does not hurt vicuñas when they crash against it;
instead, they bounce and we hold them for shearing. In the past, we used tarps, which
banged in the wind and scared vicuñas”. The first recorded chaku took place on 30
November 2003.
After shearing, the sheared fleece is divided: 10% to the owner of the land where
the chaku took place; 20% to the province, which sells it to other artisans at a
subsidised price; and 70% to the Co-operative. Co-operative members split fleece
in equal shares. They also buy fleece from the landowner to increase their share.
Co-operative members classify and remove bristles
10 from fleece. This is a very
important manual process since clean fleece results in subsequent garment softness.
Gutiérrez explains
11 that “… we don’t sell wool, especially now that we are learning
so much from the co-operative movement. Sometimes we buy fleece from the land
owner because we use it. Our purpose has never been to sell the raw material but to
add value to it; so, we sell a minimum percentage because the Co-operative needs that
money to pay annual taxes and for the minimum expenses required for our structure
operation. Until three years ago, we used to sell such percentage as shorn, but now we
sell it with the bristles removed, creating a source of employment for young people
who haven’t started weaving yet”.
After shearing, classification and bristle removal, yarn production begins. In
Laguna Blanca, spinning is an emblematic activity.
Historian Cruz [6] explains that, before revitalising the interaction with vicuñas,
the area was visited by intermediaries and weavers to get fine yarns. Besides, Cruz
describes an activity called the “vicuña minga”, i.e. an artisan invited other artisans to
her house to help her with vicuña fibre spinning—the most time-consuming stage in
the production process. Besides a compensation in money or in kind per spun ounce,
the minga involved expertise, learning and social interactions between comadres,
12
friends and neighbours. The collective labour organisation included meals and usually finished with a symbolic compensation that legitimised the process as a mutual
help and co-operation relationship: regional dance and dining. Once the labour at the
artisan’s house was completed, artisans were available to collaborate with another
fellow artisan [6, p. 4].
Nowadays, after yarn spinning, artisans may choose to use—all natural—solid
colours or to combine them in a pattern. This is how the raw material transformation
stage is complete and they get ready for the weaving process.
Back to Cruz [6], the historian argues that, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, besides weaving textiles for domestic purposes, the weaving population of
these regions used textiles as regional trading currency.
13
10 To remove the bristles means to clean camelid fleece, removing coarse hair so that it becomes
softer to touch. Explanation given by different Andean artisans.
11 Ibid 6.
12 Comadre refers to a neighbour and friend with whom a woman has a closer, trusted relationship
than with other women. Source: Diccionario de la Lengua Española, Real Academia Española.
13 During the colonial era, the regional trading currency [Monedas de la Tierra] was used in areas of
Paraguay and the River Plate that were far away from the larger centres. Objects used as currency