When Yellowknife-based Gwich’in artist Tania Larsson was approached by a red carpet fashion designer to design fashion accessories for the series premier of George R.R. Martin’s Dark Winds, she quickly got to work designing jewellery to go with the outfit being designed for the show’s star, Jessica Matten.
She carefully packaged the items and shipped them by UPS to Santa Fe, New Mexico waiting anxiously to see her work on the world-stage. But then she learned the packages were lost in delivery.
“That’s the worst thing when you’re designing pieces for someone for an event and they don’t get it,” she said. “That has been one of the biggest challenges for me when being in Yellowknife is shipping issues and the transit time.
“I’ve missed out on a cover of a magazine this year, I missed out on a spread of magazines and another actress. Most times stylists will contact you with very short notice. So I end up spending a lot of money sometimes and it gets super disappointing when they don’t receive it on time for whatever reason.”
Fortunately in this case, her fiancee Razelle Benally just so happened to be one of the shows’ writers. Seeing her love in tears, she volunteered to take the 6 a.m. flight from Yellowknife and deliver a replacement set of jewellery. The pair stayed up all night working on the items and Benally was on the plane with only minutes to spare.
Matten wore the ring made from vintage beads, antique steel cut beads and yellow diamond beads on moose hide, complemented with tufts of hand dyed caribou hair caribou hide on a band of sterling silver. The matching earrings were carved from muskox horn drops.
Larsson’s work has been popping up in a lot of places of late, including the show Rutherford Falls, on the cover of Indigenous author Sasha Louise Lapointe’s autobiography Red Paint and in photo shoots for Lucy’s Magazine.
Drawing on Gwich’in Tradition for her work, Larsson said she draws a lot on history for her creations. Aside from natural parts from moose, caribou, musk ox and other game she endeavours to use vintage beads in her work — particularly ones traded through the Hudson’s Bay Company in 19th century. But she’s even specific about where she sources her moose hide, getting it from near her home town of Fort McPherson.
“It really brings such a deep connection for me how I get to share that story with my customers and the people who wear my work,” she said. “I think it also touches their heart that it’s such a personal endeavour and they feel such a sense of connection to the north, to the stories and to the animals that I use.”
UPS finally located Larsson’s original jewellery and sent it back. She says she will re-incorporate the items into a future project. In the interim, she’s preparing to showcase her work on the runway during the 100th year of the Santa Fe Indian Market’s fashion show, set for August.
As for her work appearing on T.V., both in the premiere presser of Dark Winds and the Rutherfords, she said she’s still catching up on her own hype.
“I haven’t watched it yet,” she said. “I’m waiting for my partner to come back so we can watch it together, because that’s what we like to do.”