patterned

This artsy cardigan is the perfect statement piece. Patricia Lopez knits it from grey cotton with an abstract jacquard pattern in punchy red and orange tones. Try it out with jeans or paired with a smart skirt.

The Andean artisan worked for years as an industrial engineer before throwing in the towel to follow her passion for traditional Peruvian textiles and fashion. She runs a workshop in the capital city of Lima where she creates apparel and accessories that mix traditional and contemporary techniques and designs.

A highlight of Carnaval in Oruro, Bolivia, is the Diablada, an elaborate choreographed dance that dates back to pre-Columbian times. Masked revelers act out a story of good versus evil. Their costumes often include belts decorated with silver coins, a meaningful symbol in this 500-year-old mining city. These overlapping coins are what inspired the pattern on our soft 100% pima cotton cardigan. Available in blues or greys, the sweater features a rounded neckline and a button front.

This long and cozy open cardigan is the original creation of Pia Zavala in Peru. The sweater is knit from soft alpaca blend yarns in pearl grey with a fascinating mix of stitches that create rich texture.

In just a century since they first appeared, the textured wool sweaters of the Aran Islands have become “as tenacious an international symbol of Ireland as the harp and shamrock,” writes fashion historian Deirdre McQuillan. It wasn’t until the home crafts movement in the early 1900s that Aran’s distinctive patterns became known around the world. Today, from tourist shops to fashion shows, one can find sweaters based on stitches that were invented by grandmothers and great-grandmothers only a few generations ago.