Textile – Joseph Fabish

Joseph H. Fabish earned an associate of arts from Glendale Community College and a bachelor of science in geology from California State University, Los Angeles. In the South American country of Peru, Joseph Fabish spent many years researching and studying Peruvian, Incan, and Andean textile culture and history which he documented extensively in his co-authored book “Andamarcan Textiles: An Elite Inca Weaving Tradition from Peru Found on the Ancient Lands of the Haciendas Sinsicapa (San Ignacio) and Tulpo” which can be found on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Andamarcan-Textiles-Tradition-Haciendas-Sinsicapa/dp/0578714051

The book chronicles the history and development of weaving practices in modern-day Peruvian weaving culture in a unique remote region of northern Peru. It also documents how weaving was one of the fundamental art activities and occupations of the Incas. The chilly Andes peaks and the hot and humid Atlantic coast greatly influenced the weaving traditions.

While the modern-day Peruvian weaving practices in Huamachuco vary from the bygone ones significantly, it’s evident that the Huamachuco textile and weaving traditions have inextricable Incan legacies and influence. They thus represent a complex past as works of art and a semi-rediscovered lost language of the Incans as expressed through complex weaving traditions and patterns – connecting the outsider with rich and complex traditions of the present and simultaneously giving the viewer a rare glimpse of the Inca past.

Joseph H. Fabish is an expert on Peruvian textile traditions, from pre-Incan to contemporary times. As he describes it in the article “The Royal Inca Weavers of Huamachuco,” Joseph Fabish’s interest in this tradition came about during a visit to Peru in 1977, at a time when highland Andes villages such as Mollepata, Tulpo, and Mollebamba could only be reached by horse or on foot.

As Joseph H. Fabish describes in his book, “Andamarcan Textiles: An Elite Inca Weaving Tradition from Peru Found on the Ancient Lands of the Haciendas Sinsicapa (San Ignacio) and Tulpo,” the Tulpo hacienda spans lands that traditionally served as soto reales, or royal pastures for domesticated alpacas and llamas. This lasted for several centuries, from the Inca Huayna Capac era to the late 16th century. During this time, the camelids’ fleece was used in weaving cumbi, a tapestry-like blanket favored by nobles in Inca and Huamachuco society. This cumbi weaving style was also incorporated in unique and colorful hand-woven belts. These traditions persisted, even as the native camelids of pre-Hispanic times gave way to herds of Merino sheep. Even in the late 20th century, pre-Hispanic callua back-strap looms were still in use in highland communities when crafting striped blankets. For checkerboard patterned blankets, treadle looms dating back to colonial times were used.

Category: Textile

Characteristics of the Andean Textile Culture

Blanket Weaving Traditions of the Huamachuco Highlands