About Us
The fiber of Suri alpacas is coveted by the fashion industry and cherished by the hand spinner. Its softness of cashmere, luster of silk, warmth and featherweight of goose down, durability of wool, and its ability to accept color dyeing makes it a favorite of all fiber enthusiasts. Suri fiber blends well with wool and other fine fiber, including silk, and the yarn can be knit, crocheted, or woven.
Fiori del Campo Suri Alpacas in Cincinnati, Ohio is a Suri alpaca breeding and fiber arts company that started in July of 2006. When doing my initial farm visits while researching the alpaca industry, I became enchanted with Suri alpacas during my very first visit to Alpaca Bella Suri Farm (ABF) in Morrow, Ohio. On the day that I visited, I was greeted and given the farm tour by Bill Vonderhaar, the owner of ABF. He weas extremely friendly, helpful and encouraging and made me feel so welcome and invited me back for a second visit after I had completed the rest of my farm visits.
As I continued on with my visits, my confidence grew in the fact that this was a business that I wanted to get into. However, I was quickly realizing how expensive it is to start up a new alpaca breeding operation and how major an obstacle it would be. Additionally, I was learning that there is an overwhelming amount of knowledge needed to breed and care for alpacas. At that point I could see no way that this goal was reachable.
At the invitation of Bill V, I scheduled a follow-up visit to ABF with my head reeling in confusion and no idea how I was to proceed. During the visit, Bill V offered me the opportunity to co-own two pregnant females with their farm. They explained that co-ownership would be a less stressful way to enter the business for several reasons. I would not need to worry about buying a farm, at least not immediately, the animals could continue to live at ABF, I could make payments on the girls, could receive mentoring and learn about the business over time without jumping in headfirst. I also would have the security of knowing that “the girls” would be receiving the best of care and attention and I could visit them whenever I wanted. I felt so relieved that there was a solution to my problem and fortunate to be offered such a great opportunity to ease my way into the alpaca industry. This was a scenario that no other breeder had offered me and I jumped at the chance. I decided to sign on for half of two beautiful ABF dams and I was in business. Between purchases of champion dams at auctions and births from our females, our Fiori del Campo herd, which boards at ABF to this day, continues to grow and thrive.
Our farm’s focus, in addition to the breeding and sales of the finest brown Suri alpacas, is the promotion of Suri alpaca fleece as a luxury fiber within the American fashion design community, as well as the development of the North American alpaca fiber industry. It is a very exciting time in the development of our alpaca fiber industry. The number of outstanding American alpacas is growing by leaps and bounds, and the fleece that we are producing in this country is phenomenal. I know from my month in Peru last year (to do research on the Peruvian alpaca fiber industry as I am interested in starting my own mill that can produce *woven*, higher quality fabrics) that the Peruvians view our fleece as THE BEST in the world, along with Australia’s, and even far better than the fleece they are able to produce.
I cannot wait for the day that American alpaca is standard fare not only in designer boutiques and hand craft galleries, but generally available in major department stores. I would so much love to serve on a major committee that makes significant strides towards bringing the knowledge about our fleece and the wide spread production of superior alpaca garments from America. It seems to me that we are on the cusp of this beginning to happen on a broader level, and I would love to be one of the ones to play a leading role in making this happen!