This week I am beging a live project that has been developed by AsZu, a company that produces materials, products and garments using Alpaca fleece and yarn. AsZu wish to develop a contempory range of items for their shop.
My brief is to create a new range of materials or a collection of products, which will bring the "alpaca material" into the 21st century and make it become a commerically viable textile product.
The company wishes for the end product to be sustainable and enviromentally friendly. Also it is to have a low carbon footprint, which is sourced locally, and where possibale organic.
My main material will be the Alpaca yarn, provided by the company, but this can also be combined with other "natural" yarns, such as silk, cotton, mohair ect.
The dyes I use must also be natural or organic, which would mean dyes from plants, fruit, vegetable or flowers.
I intend to use a combination of hand knitting and machine knitting, as well as weaving to create a range of fabric for fashion garments.
Alpaca Research
- Alpacas come from South America
- The yarn is ideal for loose spinning, creates hard wearing and very light garments, which are very well insulated.
- There are two different types alpaca which generate two very different types of wool, huacaya and surial alpacas.
- Huacaya: dense, soft, sheep like wool, with a crimp.
- Suri: silky, very fine, mop-like long fibres
- Woven in England in since 1836 in Bradford.
- Potentional realised when woven with a cotton warp.
