Decorating & Design

Shops We Love: Indigo Arrows Honors Indigenous Ancestry & Heritage

Author: Samantha Edwards

Published on December 31, 2020

Textile designer and maker Destiny Seymour worked as an interior designer with Prairie Architects in Winnipeg for 10 years. While she had many Indigenous clients, Destiny, who is Anishinaabe, found it challenging to find any fabrics by Indigenous people from the Prairies. This was in the back of her mind when she visited the Manitoba Museum and saw ceramics and tools etched with beautiful geometric graphics — some thousands of years old — made by Indigenous people from Manitoba. “It struck me how these amazing patterns only existed on museum shelves,” says Destiny. “I wanted to revive them.” Under her Indigo Arrows brand, minimalist motifs inspired by these patterns now adorn linen tea towels, napkins, table runners and throw pillows, all of which are handmade in Winnipeg.

Destiny names her patterns in her ancestral language, Anishinaabemowin, as a way to share her culture. “I have non-Indigenous or non-Anishinaabe people order Ishkoday pillows — that’s a word for flint rock — and ask, ‘What does it mean?’ ‘Am I saying it right?’ It’s a great form of teaching.”

Scroll down to learn more about Indigo Arrows!

Photographer:

Ella Greyeyes (portrait)

Source:

House & Home December 2020