Our Circumpolar Fashion Cohort is working with four Industry Mentors who are celebrated members of the Indigenous fashion community. These Mentors include Riley Kucheran (Assistant Professor, Ryerson's School of Fashion), Angela DeMontigny (Designer, DeMontigny + Young Native Fashion Inc.), Tania Larsson (Designer, Tania Larsson Jewellery) and Martha Kyak (Designer, InukChic Designs).
Riley Kucheran
|
Riley (Biigtigong Nishnaabeg) is an Assistant Professor of Design Leadership at the Ryerson School of Fashion. As an Indigenous fashion researcher he supports the global community of Indigenous makers who are leading design resurgence. His scholarship bridges Indigenous theory and methodologies with retail management and entrepreneurship strategy in order to mobilize fashion as a powerful tool for decolonization. He is also the Associate Director of Saagajiwe, the Faculty of Communication and Design’s Centre for Indigenous Research and Creation, and a PhD Candidate studying community-based stores and co-operatives as sites of cultural and economic resurgence.
|
Angela DeMontigny
|
Angela is an internationally-renowned fashion designer of Cree-Metis heritage. In 1995, DeMontigny moved to Six Nations of the Grand River reserve to start Spirit Ware and the Factory — the first and only Indigenous-owned apparel factory and industrial sewing training program. She was the producer and feature designer for ‘FashioNation’ at L’Oreal Fashion Week, the first designer ever for Aboriginal Fashion Week during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and the first Indigenous designer-in-residence at Ryerson University’s Faculty of Communication and Design. In 2014, DeMontigny opened DeMontigny Boutique & Gallery on trendy James Street North in Hamilton. DeMontigny’s business philosophy is sustainability and she strives to tell stories through her work.
DeMontigny is not only known in Canada but around the world. She was the first Indigenous and Canadian designer to be featured on the runway during South Africa Fashion Week in 2017. She was also chosen by the Canadian High Commission to create and facilitate workshops to empower Indigenous women in Suriname and Guyana through fashion and business development 2019. |
Tania Larsson
|
"I design contemporary, northern Indigenous adornment based on Gwich’in culture, created with land-based materials. I make these adornments with my people in mind, and by wearing my works; they will feel connected to our ancestors, our land, and our culture. As recently as the latter part of the 19th Century, we were stripped of our adornments because of their connection to shamanistic practices. Before this time we lived nomadically, dependent on the caribou. My indigenous audience will feel a connection to my work through the inherent knowledge and aesthetic contained in blood-memory. This art will be central in creating an evolving, northern indigenous aesthetic that will allow us to pair them with our grandmothers’ moccasins and our grandfathers’ wolverine fur-trimmed parkas, reclaiming and revitalizing these traditional pieces in a contemporary fashion. I welcome an audience who wears jewelry to make a statement; and who appreciates high quality craftmanship.
My studio practice starts on the land. Most of the materials I use have been harvested from nature through subsistence hunting, in which the moose, the muskox or the caribou meat is shared in the community. I use the skin, the brains and a leg bone to make brain tanned hides. This process requires a lot of physical work that takes two to three weeks. Once the hide is finished, I create a pattern that is based in traditional techniques and designs passed down through generations in our Gwich’in tribe. I use antique and vintage beads to decorate the hide, creating colorful and intricate designs. Another part of the animal that I use is the hair of the moose and caribou. I dye it before sewing it down on hide to create a tuft. Finally, I use the horns and antlers, cutting, shaping and, polishing them to use in my jewelry. I incorporate these natural elements with silver, gold and precious stones to create a striking contrast of textures, color and materials. We are taught to use every part of the animal when we hunt, and it is crucial for me to incorporate that part of my culture in my studio practice." |
Martha Kyak
|
Martha is a self-taught artist and seamstress. She grew up in Pond Inlet, Nunavut and is the youngest of eleven children. Most of her family members are creative, artistic, and in the field of education. Living in Pond Inlet, Martha had her own retail store selling sewing supplies and other items. Her passion has always been sewing and designing as she grew up watching her mother and sisters sew. As an artist, she has illustrated several children's books, as well as graphic designing and producing Inuktitut books and teaching resources.
She has been an educator for many years and has had a meaningful career in many positions as a teacher, principal and superintendent. Martha is currently an instructor at the Ottawa based college program Nunavut Sivuniksavut where she teaches Inuit History, Inuktitut, and sewing. She is a graduate of McGill University. In Ottawa, away from family and her community, Martha finds more time to create garments, jewelry and paintings. True to her arctic roots, sealskin is featured predominantly in many of her designs. Martha is a celebrated fashion designer and has achieved great success with her line InukChic Designs. She has showcased her work on numerous runways and has participated in events like Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto and Northern Lights. Most recently, Martha completed a custom piece for the Winnipeg Art Gallery that will be featured in their permanent collection. |
