Meet our 2024 Designers

CRuby Designs

Christy Ruby

Tlingit, Ketchikan, Alaska

Working with unique Native furs is becoming a lost art by the limitation of tanneries. This amazing water, wind, proof fur can last through 40 years of wear and deserves a future.

Christy Ruby is an Alaskan Native Tlingit Indian from Ketchikan. She harvests her ancestral seal and sea otter mammals for food and fur. With multi facets of talent in graphic arts, coin designing, and sewing, the pallet is painted with unique creations of wearable fur art.

Dakota Dress Maker

Rebecca Mousseau

Spirit Lake Dakota Nation, ND

Ohan mitakuyepi! Dakota iá IštaZíWí emakiyapi ye. Mni wankaņ oyaņké hemataņhaņ. Mnišota ed watí.

Hello relatives! Yellow Eyes Woman is my Dakota name. I am from Spirit Lake Dakota Nation. I reside in Minnesota.

I have been beading and sewing since the age of 13. I have always leaned towards my Dakota women ancestors, as well as my moms, aunties, and grandmas for notes of inspiration. Dakota women show their fierce unconditional love by adorning their families through dress. This is where I aim to keep my mindset while in my creative processes. I aim to create pieces that bring joy love and light. Adornments that may be handed down. Keep traditional and cultural knowledge alive in a contemporary way.

Funded in part by the College of Design Imagine Fund Grant, this collection represents six core values of gratitude and reciprocity used by Native Designers. The designs represent Relationships, Connection to the Land, Community, Spirituality, Identity and Healing, and Sustainability. These are wearable garments that tell a visual story using primarily upcycled and natural materials.

Sage Davis, Dr. Elizabeth (Missy) Bye, & Mansoureh (Sophie) Nikookar, & Delina White

The Restorative Apparel Co-Design Collection

Sage Davis

Sage Davis is an Anishinaabekwe, enrolled in the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, situated in Northern Minnesota. Sage is a beadwork artist, apparel designer, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota. With a lifelong dedication to beadwork since the age of 6 and a decade-long journey in sewing, Sage earned an undergraduate degree in Communication, Media, and Rhetoric Her research interests include but are not limited to sustainability, design activism, and social justice within the textile and apparel industry. Her life’s purpose is to on advocating for social justice, and equality, and promoting sustainable innovation by challenging systemic oppression— critical in addressing global challenges.

Mansoureh (Sophie) Nikookar

Mansoureh (Sophie) Nikookar is an international Apparel Studies PhD student in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. She worked as a freelance fashion designer before starting her PhD journey which brought her a reasonable knowledge and understanding of the principles of design, patternmaking, sewing, and fabric manipulation techniques. She works as a lead graduate designer in the Restorative Apparel Co-Design collection project.

Dr. Elizabeth (Missy) Bye

Dr. Elizabeth (Missy) Bye is a Professor in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Bye is an International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Distinguished Scholar and received the ITAA Lectra Innovation award for faculty research twice. She was the department head of Design, Housing, and Apparel from 2011-2020, and past ITAA president.

IamAnishinaabe

Delina White

Leech Lake Anishinaabe, Minnesota

IamAnishinaabe is more than a fashion studio. It a hub of creativity, cultural pride, and community empowerment on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. Owner Delina White's vision extends far beyond fashion; it's about reclaiming Indigenous identity, promoting economic self-sufficiency, and fostering intergenerational connections.