Andean Traditions in the Making of Discontinuous Warp (and Weft) Textiles

Abstract: It is not possible here to explore all the nuances of the discontinuous warp and weft variations developed in the Andes as there are so many and they are so diverse. This article, therefore, touches on specific categories of textiles that use this unusual technique—from its use in geometric and curvilinear design construction to its structural formation in expanding the rectangular shape to a trapezoidal one, as well as its manipulation of the weaving format to enable its deconstruction and reconstruction into different formats and, finally, as the expression of pure color in the symbolic formation of designs. After over forty years of examining these and other related textiles—while at the same time drawing from scholarship of others, including especially Penelope Dransart, Raoul d’Harcourt, Nobuko Kajitani, Lila Morris O’Neale, Ann Pollard Rowe, and Renate Strelow, who have contributed enormously to the subject matter—the author finds there is still much to learn and understand with this complex subject.