ORSKA
The Peru collection - memories woven in the Peruvian highlands

High in the Andes, in the heart of Peru, thousands of meters of thread are spun every day. Entire communities of small villages gather to work together and pass on their skills to the next generation. Each handmade object is a personal story of the weaver, a manifestation of the unique experiences of his life and community. Fascinated by the communal spirit of the Andes, Anna Orska decided to add her own chapter to these incredible stories. In the Sacred Valley of the Incas she found the workshop where the brand's next travel-inspired collection was born.

The search for Peruvian crafts has taken the artist to areas that are extremely difficult and challenging, yet uncommonly close to unspoiled nature. The climate and environment organize the life and work of Peruvians. The preparations for weaving alone consume a lot of time and require a great deal of knowledge passed down through generations. Everything the artisans need to start weaving, they obtain locally, on their own. They raise animals for the wool, shear and spin it themselves, then collect natural dyes and hand-dye the self-spun skeins. Each piece of fabric has a life of its own, reflecting the spirit, skills and personal stories of the maker.

Weaving a specific pattern requires almost engineering skills. The ornament must be planned in advance, because every movement of the thread, called weft, affects its form. One mistake in counting the warps, the vertical threads around which the weft is run, can destroy the entire design. Andean weavers mastered the art of creating extremely complex patterns solely through practice. The lack of written instructions for them to follow and reproduce makes their work seem almost magical. "In this craft, you have to combine artistic sensitivity with technical mastery to achieve the desired effect, which impresses with fantasy and precision. It takes years of work to reach the level of skill of the local artists, so I had to settle for weaving only simple patterns." - says Anna Orska.

The Peru collection was created in three villages high in the mountains. More than twenty male and female weavers were involved in its preparation. Each of them put a part of their own energy into their work. The Peruvian fabrics, thanks to both their rich symbolism and personal contribution, are a colorful story of life among monumental nature, as well as the history and beliefs of entire communities.

Using soft fabrics in jewelry, ORSKA brought these stories to Poland and started a whole new chapter of them. Thanks to the work of more than a dozen embroiderers, the fabrics were enriched with bead embroidery, using natural stones such as sapphires, rubies, garnets, aquamarines, onyx and pyrite. Delicate beads matched to the color of the fabric enhance and decorate it. Their fine facets make the Peruvian motifs come alive, shining with every movement. The compositions prepared in this way required only the finishing touches, which were added by jewelers in the brand's workshop. All fabrics were framed to size in geometric frames referring to Incan ornaments. Each piece was created over many hours and traveled several thousand kilometers.

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