Natural Dyes & Sustainable Product Design Fellow

As Awamaki looks to the future and how climate change will affect our Andean partner communities, we are seeking to work with our artisan partners to adapt how we develop products. Our partners handknit and weave on the backstrap loom. We aim to shift our product development to focus on using climate-resistant, waste or recycled materials in our new products. This position will support this goal, with a special focus on producing our first line of alpaca yarn dyed with traditional natural dyes.

In this role, you will:

• Coordinate natural dye research and experimentation alongside artisans and local experts to develop 2-3 consistent colorways of natural dyes for handspun alpaca yarn production
• Experiment with nontraditional materials and developing new knit, crochet, woven and sewn products alongside the artisans
• Learn about climate-threatened materials in the Andes and experiment with replacement materials
• With our team, develop ideas for new products that use climate-resistant materials, or help select from existing ideas
• Support product development with market research
• With the artisans, create and refine samples to test new items in our brick-and-mortar store in Peru, and also in our online store
• Research the sustainability and environmental impact of production and dye methods

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

An ideal candidate for this position would possess the following qualities:

• Significant experience working in design and production, especially sustainable and ethical design, or equivalent coursework or degree
• Experiment dyeing with natural dyes
• Spanish and English proficiency preferred
• Peruvian Carnet or DNI preferred

ABOUT AWAMAKI

• Awamaki is a community-driven social enterprise working in deep collaboration with Quechua artisans. Together we create grassroots programs to support and grow women-led cooperatives through heritage textiles, market access, and sustainable tourism.