About Us

Since 1979, LANART has been a brand that has defied manufacturing norms. Born on the coast of Southern California, we have been working with alpaca and fair trade practices from our own Latin heritage in Peru. We have always stood for innovation and art. This year marks our 40th Anniversary. To celebrate, we envision a new future that’s still deeply rooted in our past by teaming our most creative individuals with the gifted new talent.

Founded by Angelo Ponce, our humble beginnings were driven by designing and distributing artistic alpaca rugs. LANART’s goal, which we have translated into our core philosophy, has been to show the world the beautiful luxury and diverse offerings of Alpaca fiber in an array of products while encouraging the artistic traditions of the native people of Peru. Ursula Ponce, Angelo’s daughter, had grown up around the family business. She joined the business full time after her graduate studies in 2005, and is grateful to be following in her father’s footsteps.

With our headquarters moving to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1994, we became aligned with the Sister Cities Program. The longstanding ties between Charlotte and Areqiupa, that have been established in 1962 was something we embraced. Because we have always been involved in our communities, we became completely immersed in Arequipa. The discovery of this connection made it seem like it was a perfect fit for us to move to Arequipa. Naturally, the connections made with artists, knitters, and creative minds solidified our relationship. Working together with these groups, we were drawn to this small town feel and it was a natural connection that we made all around. Getting established in Arequipa truly put us on the map.

While we moved our base of operations to Arequipa, our site in Puno, in the highlands of Peru, has continued to flourish since the 1990s. We have stayed true to our hand knitting items using traditions passed down through generations. Our baby alpaca hand crafted products are a point of pride, especially while the industry has been flooded with acrylic blends and mass produced machine made “alpaca” products. Our accessories are a work of art and continue to bring natural beauty to those who value the true essence of baby alpaca and the art form of hand knitting and hand crafting.

As the popularity of alpaca has grown, our roots have been in an artistic and home made approach to every day products. LANART offers a wide variety of distinctive Alpaca products that include: needle felted sculptures, teddy bear collections, socks, accessories, and home décor. Since its inception, LANART has steadily gained a reputation for quality and integrity – traits that are paramount in the Alpaca industry – and a priority to us.