Arts & Cultures Collections Database

This is the first traditional floor loom ever built in the United States by Asociacion Artesanal Kurypachamama, a group of Kechwa weavers from Peguche, Ecuador. Peguche is a small community near the major weaving center of Otavalo in Imbabura Province, Ecuador, located at 9,000 feet elevation. For hundreds of years, the community has practiced the arts of weaving and knitting, producing beautiful blankets, ponchos, sweaters and purses with traditional designs.

Andean weavers originally used backstrap looms to produce woven textiles, but European treadle or floor looms were introduced by the Spanish in Colonial times as a way to speed up the weaving process. In 1917, a weaver from Peguche began producing imitation Scottish tweeds on a floor loom, and the modern commercial weaving industry was born. The whole family is involved in the manufacture of textiles, including spinning, dyeing, and weaving. While women usually do the spinning and dyeing, men typically weave on the floor looms.