Aurelia Apaza Machacca, Zenobia Cruz Condori, Maximo Apaza Quispe, Karina Quispe Machacca, Rudyt Huaman Roman
Our Story
In Q’eros, weaving is a sacred art that transmits ancestral knowledge. We are a group of Native Quechua-speaking Peruvians with Q’ero Youth, Elders, and Elizabeth Jenkins (president of Wiraqocha Foundation), who together manage and run the Hatun Q’eros Cultural Center in Cusco. We have used only Q’ero Youth rather than professional models seen in most Peruvian retail websites in order to address cultural appropriation and affirm that our profits go back to the Hatun Q’eros Community of weavers. Our goal is to provide a beautiful online store that can serve as a permanent fundraising project for the community of Hatun Q’eros, and continue to provide for the community through the law of AYNI or sacred reciprocity, as the Wiraqocha Foundation* has done since 1996.
The town of Hatun Q’eros lies in the heart of the Q’ero Nation, denominated “Last Inka Village in Peru.” This Inka lineage carried forward by the Q’ero, is the very genius that created Machu Pikchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and a monument to human and nature collaboration. Today, the Q’ero people are some of the materially poorest yet spiritually richest people on earth. 100% of the profits from these textiles go back to serve the Q’ero community.
Kusi Q’s
Alpaca Fur Wrap Designer
Zenovia Cruz Condori is a powerful Nust’a Paqo (Nature Priestess) from the community of Chek’as Pampa on Ausangate mountain in Peru. A powerful healer, Zenovia was trained in the weaving and healing arts by her grandmother Justa Condori who died at the ripe old age of 120. Weaving is first foremost and always a ceremonial practice, as ancestral designs imbued with powerful prayers are woven into each creation in Alpaca fibre.
Zenovia created her first prize-winning Alpaca Fur Wrap in 2019 at the Ocongate festival and won first place for her unique and innovative design. She was inspired by her cousin, who raises prize-winning Alpacas, to weave this fabulous quality Alpaca fibre into a beautiful and unique design. Thus her signature ALPACA FUR WRAP was born. Since her first prize winning Wrap was born, Zenovia has won every year at all the most important Artesanal Fairs in Cuzco, Peru. Since then, many have attempted to copy her design, but no one creates the same level of quality as does Zenovia.
We celebrate her here, offering her original creations, each one a unique piece, honoring the beauty and happiness of the Alpaca and Weaver, Zenovia the originator of this design.
Doña Zenovia Cruz Condori
Our Name “Kusi Q”
The” Kusi Q” name is an homage to Kusi Qoyllur (Happy Star) an Inka Princess who loved below her station with a love so fierce, pure and unconditional that it was protected by the people of the community and by Nature herself. This story shares a theme common in Andean myth and story, that love and the laws of Nature supersede the laws of man. We believe that working in harmony with Nature is the basis of all human health and happiness, and we feel that joining in with the intention of our community will make you happy too!
Wiraqocha Foundation
Wiraqocha Foundation was created in 1996 to maintain the AYNI (sacred reciprocity) with the Q’ero people of Peru. Our mission is to protect the lives and culture of the Q’ero people and to promote the authentic wisdom traditions of the people of Hatun Q’eros in the six villages at the heart of the Q’ero Nation, to the world. WF currently boasts a 96.4% efficiency ratio. For more info https://wiraqochafoundation.org
