Our story

A glance at Awanay

1.

AWANAY is a rug design studio based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, sourcing one of a kind handmade rugs worldwide, both for commercial and residential projects.

2.

Our style philosophy is laid back, elegant, simple, organic, natural. A modern twist on Argentine Heritage.

3.

Our social mission is in our DNA. Fair trade + community made.

4.

We are 100% service oriented​. We work along interior design studios worldwide creating custom rugs for their projects.

What makes our rugs unique

At AWANAY there are no mills involved, every step is community made. The weavers weave from their houses, surrounded by nature like it´s been for centuries. ​ ​The story begins in the sheep and llama farms of the remote Dry Forest and La Puna in northern Argentina:​

1.

WOOL SOURCING

We work with small farmers that live in remote areas within the weaver´s communities.  ​ The wool is carefully selected and hand-washed to assure the best quality.​

Pure Sheep Wool
2.

HAND-SPINNING

The art of hand-spinning is as important as hand weaving. It takes a lot of time and expertise to convert the raw fiber into marvelous threads that will later become a rug.

Hand-Spun
3.

HAND DYEING

All our rugs are hand-dyed and most of the colors are obtained with plants and flowers from the area. Our rugs have unique shade variations. We highlight the complexity and randomness of natural elements. ​

Hand-Dyed
4.

HAND WEAVING

The final step is hand-weaving in ancient looms. It takes upto 8 weeks to complete a whole rug depending on the size and weight. There are no size limitations for the rugs we make.

Handmade. Fair Trade

Social mission

Our mission is to empower rural communities of master weavers living in remote and inaccesible areas in Argentina. ​We want them to have the opportunity to work and live sustainably in their homeland, doing what they know best, hand-weaving. 

Given the fact that they live so isolated, it´s really hard for them to have any source of income from their work. Many families are forced to migrate to the cities in search for jobs where in most cases they end up living in very poor areas. Others move around the country for harvesting seasons, leaving their families behind for a long time.

​Today AWANAY reaches more than 100 families of sheep owners, hand-spinners and weavers in the Dry Forest and in La Puna region.​

Building teams

We work along rural communities of talented weavers living in very inaccesible places in northern Argentina. One team is established in the DRY FOREST region and two other ones are based in LA PUNA area, high in the northern Andes. We establish a direct, continuous and long term relationship, helping them form self managed, independent teams. ​

At AWANAY every single step of the process is COMMUNITY MADE. This means that not only we work with teams of weavers, but also of hand-spinners and small sheep owners. Thanks to this community supply chain, the impact of our project reaches more than 100  people in the mentioned areas.​

We work following FAIR TRADE PRINCIPLES. Prices are agreed on based on costs and on the work and mastery each rug takes and are not dictated only by the market. ​

Get to know us

Awanay was founded in 2012 by a mother and daughter duo, Silvia and Rocío Noya​

Rocío Noya

I have a bachelor´s degree in Business from Universidad de San Andres (2009) but it wasn´t until I was exchange student at Wharton, U. of Pennsylvania by the end of University, that I began to realize the career path I wanted to have. Back there I was introduced to the concept of social enterprises and fell in love with it. Back in Buenos Aires, I wrote my graduation thesis on the subject and started to think of ways I could make my way as a social entrepreneur. AWANAY was a natural consequence of this search I did along with my mother, now my business partner. We both wanted a job that had a meaning to us and that would contribute to a better world.

I´m very passionate about design, traveling to exotic places and rural adventures, especially on mountain bike. So I think I´ve managed to reunite all this things in my work in AWANAY. Which is the main reason I started this business. So I could have a job with a meaningful purpose and honest with the life I wanted to live.

Silvia Noya

I live in Buenos Aires. I have a Bachelor´s degree in computer science and an MBA in Agribusiness. I had always worked leading teams for IT projects until 2009. Since 2011, I’m Co-Founder & Director of AWANAY, when Rocio and I started this path together. I paint, I like to learn new languages and travel to new places. I’m passionate about our traditional Argentine textiles.

All my life I have worked with many people with different skills and responsibilities. I have learned that each and every person is necessary and essential in his role to have a successful implementation. I know that it’s important that everybody feels good and proud of what they do. So I like to see AWANAY like a huge big team where we all work together, the weavers, the shearers, the hand-spinners and us, each of us doing what we think we know best, with trust and joy