Our Story
From Fieldwork to Weaving Tools
A story of learning, listening, and making together
My name is Willa Wang, I am the founder of Weavempower. And before that I am a designer and anthropologist.
I didn’t start Weavempower as a business idea. I started it from the ground - in villages, workshops, and long conversations around looms.
My journey with textiles began in 2012, during my first fieldwork with the Dong community in Southwest China. What initially drew me there was not fabric, but people — especially women. Women who wove not only cloth, but family histories, cultural memory, and everyday resilience into their work.
Over the years, I have learned to weave from Miao brocade artisans, Dai, Yao, Mosuo, Tibetan, and Dong women weavers. They taught me patterns and techniques, but more importantly, they taught me how weaving functions as a social system - a way to sustain families, pass on knowledge, and hold communities together.
What began as learning slowly became collaboration.
With women artisans from the Dong community during my first fieldwork in Southwest China, 2012.
A moment that marked the beginning of my long-term journey with weaving and community learning.
Learning With, Not About Communities
Documenting and learning traditional Yao weaving practices during field research, 2015.
Weaving as living knowledge — carried through hands, generations, and everyday life.
As a designer, I often found myself questioning the distance between urban creativity and rural craftsmanship.
So I began organizing projects that brought people together:
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Urban learners traveling to rural communities to learn weaving directly from women artisans
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Skill exchanges where traditional knowledge met contemporary design, tourism, and education
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Community-based projects that allowed artisans to earn income while maintaining control over their craft and rhythm of life
These were not “aid projects.”
They were shared learning processes.
Through these experiences, one question kept returning:
What if tools, education, and markets could be designed with craft communities, not imposed on them?
Why Weavempower Exists
Weavempower was born from this question.
The project focuses on developing:
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Weaving tools that are approachable for beginners yet powerful enough for complex techniques
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Learning systems that make textile knowledge accessible across cultures and geographies
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Connections between rural women weavers and a global community of makers
At the center of Weavempower is a simple belief:
Weaving is not just a craft.
It is a source of empowerment.
Designing X Loom: A Tool That Listens
Our original weaving tool, X Loom, embodies this philosophy.
It was designed to:
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Look simple and non-intimidating for beginners
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Support advanced techniques such as patterned and jacquard-style weaving
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Be portable, ergonomic, and suitable for modern living spaces
During development, I tested six different types of wood, studied their strength and texture, and eventually chose beechwood, finished with natural beeswax oil for durability and sustainability.
Most importantly, prototypes of X Loom were brought back into rural communities.
Women weavers used them, commented on them, and helped refine the design.
X Loom is not a finished object -
it is a result of listening, iteration, and co-creation.
X Loom
Organizing public weaving workshops to connect urban learners with traditional textile practices.
Learning as a Shared Path
Alongside the tools, I developed over six hours of structured video courses, guiding learners from zero to their first woven pieces - from band weaving to fabric weaving.
These courses are hosted online, allowing people across the world to learn at their own pace, while remaining connected to the cultural roots of the craft.
Learning, for us, is never one-directional.
It is a loop - between hands, histories, and futures.
Our Impact
Weavempower is a social enterprise.
7% of our revenue is reinvested into programs that support rural women weavers, focusing on:
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Financial literacy
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E-commerce and digital skills
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Small-scale entrepreneurship
Our goal is not to “modernize” tradition, but to help artisans navigate modern systems on their own terms.
Looking Forward
Weavempower continues to grow as a platform for tools, learning, and cultural exchange.
But at its core, it remains grounded in one idea:
Empowered by Weaving.
A belief that through making together - patiently, respectfully, and creatively -
we can build connections that are stronger than threads,
and futures that are shared rather than extracted.
Discussing collaboration with Tibetan women weaver.
Designing tools and futures together, through dialogue and trust.