VOGUE - ANDEAN ARTISANSHIP: ELEVEN SIX DESIGNER CATHERINE CARNEVALE’S PERU AND BOLIVIA TRAVEL DIARY
ANDEAN ARTISANSHIP: ELEVEN SIX DESIGNER CATHERINE CARNEVALE’S PERU AND BOLIVIA TRAVEL DIARY
June 3, 2018 | vogue.com | Photo ELLIE CONNELL | by MONICA MENDAL
Growing up in England, Catherine Carnevale learned to knit from her mother and grandmother, and knew immediately that she would pursue the art as a profession. Her instincts were right—she would go on to work for Calvin Klein, Anne Klein, and Club Monaco before launching her own knitwear brand, Eleven Six.
A fusion of contemporary design and traditional Andean knitting techniques is at the heart of Eleven Six. Carnevale’s designs are handmade by a women’s cooperative of artisans in Peru and Bolivia, where she recently traveled to work on her upcoming PS19 collection. There, she visited the women who, empowered by their entrepreneurial environment, are highly dedicated to the production of high-quality pieces using traditional textile techniques—hand knitting, macramé, crochet, and hand-weaving.
During her trip, Carnevale traveled to Lima and La Paz, staying at Second Home, the former abode of noted Peruvian artist Victor Delfin, and visiting local sites including the Mario Testino Museum, the Museo Larco, and Salar De Uyuni, the salt flats outside La Paz, Bolivia. “This trip was an inspirational combination of absorbing culture, a rich heritage of craftsmanship, and nature,” says the designer. “In both [Peru and Bolivia], I find there is a sense of free-spiritedness and warmth which always resets and refreshes my perspective.”
See the highlights of her travels, above.