The Loom School

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Founded 1961 · Oaxacan Tradition

The
Loom
School

Thread by Thread, Story by Story. Mastering the ancient arts of loom weaving, natural dye and heritage textile traditions.

Begin Weaving Our Heritage
63 Years of Tradition
40+ Loom Varieties Taught
2,400 Alumni Worldwide
18 Master Weavers on Faculty
Our Principles

Three Threads
of Our Teaching

I — Thread

Technique & Structure

Weaving begins in the warp — the invisible architecture that holds everything together. We teach structure, sett, tie-up and threading with rigorous attention, forming the foundation for all creative work.

II — Colour

Natural Dye & Colour

Before synthetic pigments, all colour came from root, bark, berry and insect. We preserve and practise plant-based dye traditions from indigenous communities across Mesoamerica and Central Asia.

III — Story

Heritage & Memory

Textiles are the oldest archive. Each pattern holds genealogy, ceremony, cosmology and resistance. Our ethnotextile studies place technical skill within its full cultural and historical context.

Our Offerings

Courses & Programmes

Foundation Loom Weaving
Foundation

Foundation Loom Weaving

Learn to dress a loom from scratch — warping, threading, tie-up and treadling. Students produce four sampler cloths demonstrating plain weave, twill, satin and simple pattern.

6 Weeks · All Levels · Morning Cohort
Natural Dye Studio
Intermediate

Natural Dye Studio

An intensive exploration of plant-based colour — mordanting, substantive dyes, extraction methods and resist techniques. Students build a personal dye book across ten sessions in the dyehouse.

10 Weeks · Foundation required · Full Year
Heritage Tapestry Programme
Advanced

Heritage Tapestry

The most demanding programme we offer: the full study of tapestry weaving in the Gobelin and Navajo traditions, from cartoon preparation through narrative image construction in wool and silk.

12 Months · Application required · Annual intake
Master Weaver Residency
Residency

Master Weaver Residency

A six-month immersive residency for established textile artists seeking to deepen their practice under the daily mentorship of a senior Loom School master weaver in their chosen tradition.

6 Months · Portfolio selection · 4 places only
Master Weaver Catalina Morales

Catalina Morales

Master Weaver & Founding Director

Born in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, into a family of Zapotec weavers, Catalina Morales spent her childhood at the loom before leaving to study ethnotextiles at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She returned with a conviction: that weaving is not craft but philosophy, and that the loom encodes the entire logic of the universe — warp and weft, tension and release, pattern and ground.

Third-generation Zapotec weaver in the cochineal tradition

UNESCO Living Human Treasure designation, 2011

Author of The Woven World: Textile as Memory (2018)

Residencies in Japan, Morocco, India and Guatemala

The Method

How We Teach
the Loom

01

Understanding Thread: Fibre & Yarn

Before touching the loom, students must know the materials — wool, cotton, silk, linen, bast fibres, and the hand-spun traditions of each. Yarn weight, twist, and fibre behaviour determine every subsequent choice.

Week 1–2
02

Dressing the Loom: Warping & Threading

The warp is the skeleton. Students learn back-to-front and front-to-back warping methods, sett calculation, threading drafts and tie-up patterns for four-shaft looms in multiple weave structures.

Week 3–5
03

Weave Structures: From Plain to Complex

Plain weave, twill, satin, overshot, Summer and Winter, double weave — each structure creates a distinct cloth with its own drape, texture and symbolic vocabulary, explored through focused sampling.

Week 6–10
04

Colour: Natural Dye Practice

Students enter the dyehouse — mordanting fibre, preparing plant extracts, building a dye notebook of sustainable colour relationships that will define their personal palette for years to come.

Week 11–16
05

Design: Pattern, Narrative & Final Project

The culminating project brings technique and intention together. Each student weaves an original cloth — a full statement of their voice, their learning, and their relationship to the tradition.

Week 17–20
Our Story

Six Decades
at the Loom

1961

Founded in Oaxaca

Elena Morales opens a teaching studio in a converted colonial house in Oaxaca City, gathering twelve Zapotec and Mixtec weavers to share techniques across communities.

1974

The Natural Dye Revival

Alarmed by the disappearance of cochineal and indigo knowledge, the school launches a formal natural dye curriculum — one of the first structured programmes of its kind in the Americas.

1998

International Residency Programme

Exchange residencies with Japan, Morocco and India begin under the leadership of Catalina Morales, bringing master weavers from three continents to teach at the school each year.

2011

UNESCO Living Human Treasure

Director Catalina Morales receives the UNESCO Living Human Treasure designation for her work preserving Zapotec weaving traditions and transmitting them to new generations.

2024

The Heritage Textile Archive

The school opens a public archive of over 1,200 historical samples, pattern drafts and dye records — the largest freely accessible textile research collection in Latin America.

Student Words

Voices from
the Loom Room

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Catalina taught me that every thread carries a decision — about tension, about colour, about what you want to say. The Loom School changed how I understand time, patience and the nature of making."

R

Rosario Villanueva

Foundation Graduate, Mexico City
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"The Natural Dye Studio was the most challenging and rewarding course I have ever taken. I came for the colour and left with a completely transformed understanding of ecology, history and beauty."

H

Hana Watanabe

Natural Dye Graduate, Kyoto
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"Six months as a resident weaver under Maestro Juan Pérez completely reshaped my practice. The Loom School holds a rare combination of rigour and generosity that I have not found anywhere else."

A

Anya Kowalski

Residency Graduate, Warsaw
Take Your Seat at the Loom

Apply or Enquire

We accept students year-round for Foundation courses and once annually for Heritage Tapestry and Residency. Write to us — we respond to every message personally.