Hamilton-based Ojibwe and Métis beader is reconnecting to her Indigenous roots through her beadwork earrings
C/O @thirtywwolvesdesigns
Growing up in Hamilton her whole life, Oksana Legault knew very little about her Indigenous background. However, through her beaded jewelry business Thirty Wolves Designs that she started on Instagram in September 2020, Legault is slowly reconnecting and beading together her lost Indigenous identity.
Legault is of mixed Ojibwe, Métis and French ancestry. She is also a grandchild of a residential school survivor. As a result of the intergenerational impact of residential schools, she was raised disconnected from her Indigenous heritage and culture.
When people asked about her background, she was taught by her parents to say French-Canadian because they were taught to be ashamed of their Indigenous heritage and knew very little about where they came from.
“I’ve been displaced from my culture, my Ojibwe and Métis culture . . . After my [grandfather attended residential school], all of our culture was lost and my parents know nothing. Especially being in the city, not in our original area, I don’t know much about it. I started [Thirty Wolves Designs] because I found art was fun and I wanted to learn more about my culture,” explained Legault.
“I’ve been displaced from my culture, my Ojibwe and Métis culture . . . After my [grandfather attended residential school], all of our culture was lost and my parents know nothing. Especially being in the city, not in our original area, I don’t know much about it. I started [Thirty Wolves Designs] because I found art was fun and I wanted to learn more about my culture,” explained Legault.
Legault began her journey to reclaim her Indigenous identity in 2019 when she signed up for a beading and moccasins workshop led by Justine Woods, a Métis interdisciplinary designer based in Tkaronto, at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.
Since then, she has continued to hone her beading skills and now creates beautifully crafted beaded earrings which she sells through Thirty Wolves Designs.
The name was inspired by her strong spiritual connection to wolves and her birth date, December 30. The fact that there can be up to 30 wolves in a pack made the name even more perfect.
Her bead designs mostly carry themes of nature as well as inspirations drawn from other art and Indigenous beaders. For example, she has recreated Pedicularis and Indian paintbrush plants, the scenery of the Meziadin Lake in Kitimat, BC and a painting called A Moment of Peace by Ryder Erickson.
Beyond serving as a tool to reconnect with her Indigenous roots, beading has also allowed Legault to liberate herself creatively. Legault has been interested in art since high school and Thirty Wolves Designs provided her with an opportunity and platform to share her creations.
Her most recent launch on March 5 was in collaboration with Wildflower Supply Co., another Hamilton-based jewelry business run by Legault’s high school classmate Jasmine Ellis. This is the second launch of their collaboration featuring wildflower-themed beaded earrings.
The anticipation for the launch and the general support from her audience has been overwhelming. Legault also appreciates the Indigenous beading community who has been continuously sharing knowledge and teaching her more about beading and her culture.
“The Indigenous beading community is a really small, niche community, but at the same time it feels so big because I haven’t had access to my culture personally through my family,” said Legault.
As with all new businesses in the COVID-19 era, starting Thirty Wolves Designs was challenging. It was difficult to find the right time, right supplies and right designs and to encourage herself to make the first post. Legault emphasizes that new business owners should start small and slowly grow their brand.
Behind the scenes, Legault is excited for more collaboration projects and the launch of the Thirty Wolves Designs website to make her business more accessible to customers. She is also looking forward to discovering more about her Indigenous identity.
“Thirty Wolves Designs means a start to learning about my culture. It’s a beginning, a stepping stone for me to learn more about my family’s history and what it means to be Ojibwe and Métis . . . It’s a fresh start to finding out the part of me that I was never able to explore when I was younger,” said Legault.
“Thirty Wolves Designs means a start to learning about my culture. It’s a beginning, a stepping stone for me to learn more about my family’s history and what it means to be Ojibwe and Métis . . . It’s a fresh start to finding out the part of me that I was never able to explore when I was younger,” said Legault.
Every pair of earrings she creates marks a rekindled connection to the knowledge of the past that was stolen from her.
Comfort is at the heart of local underwear business Bed Peace Intimates
Feeling comfortable in your skin can go a long way. Often overlooked though is the importance of being comfortable. Both ideas of comfort are at the heart of Maya Lyn’s business Bed Peace Intimates.
The idea for Bed Peace Intimates initially came to Lyn in high school. Since then, she gathered the necessary experiences that made her vision a reality. She studied fashion arts and business at Humber College and then took an intensive sewing course at George Brown College before launching her business on Instagram in spring 2017.
Lyn makes mostly underwear, bralettes and sports bras, usually in bright, vibrant colours. It was important to Lyn to ensure her business was sustainable so all her pieces are made-to-order using made-in-Canada organic cotton hemp.
Since launching, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. An added bonus of her made-to-order model and using Instagram is that Lyn is able to have more interaction with her customers than she might have had otherwise.
“So they'll send me pictures afterwards, or they'll write really sweet messages about how perfectly they fit or how they love the colour,” explained Lyn.
At the core of her business is the belief that fabrics we keep closest to our bodies should be comfortable and make us feel good. That’s why she’s very appreciative of the feedback because it helps her to see that her business is fulfilling its goals.
Everything comes back to these ideas of comfort and kindness for Lyn.
“It's all about comfort for me. I seldom call it lingerie because I've never been attracted to lingerie. It's just not my jam but intimates to me that means they're comfortable, they're flexible. You can wear it at work, you can wear it at home, you can wear it when you're resting. And it's also sexy. When you feel comfortable in your body you are prone to feeling sexy and good in your body because you feel comfortable,” explained Lyn.
“It's all about comfort for me. I seldom call it lingerie because I've never been attracted to lingerie. It's just not my jam but intimates to me that means they're comfortable, they're flexible."
Especially in the context of the pandemic, choosing something comfortable (and colourful!) can go a long way in making individuals not only feel more comfortable in their bodies but also for brightening their days a bit.
“I know the few days that I haven't got dressed in the morning, those days are just hazy. And it's kind of fun but you do feel a little bit like the day is just a big blob. So maybe having Bed Peace, putting on a nice sports bra that's comfortable, that doesn't have an underwire and putting on a nice, comfortable, colourful pair of underwear and then putting on some sort of comfortable, but home outfit could be a game-changer for people who are stuck at home and feeling it,” said Lyn.
Comfort is for everyone and Lyn feels strongly about ensuring that all aspects of her are accessible and inclusive. She offers a sliding scale for those who may need it. She also strives to be size-inclusive, featuring a size range of small to three XL.
In regards to the promotion of her business, such as for photoshoots, it’s very important for Lyn to work with photographers and models who are Black, Indigenous or People of Colour.
“Collaborating together and being a part of the collaboration team to be like, “Okay, what would make you feel excited to see on an advertisement for underwear?” [is really important] . . . I'm just thinking about how a brand can be all-encompassing and mindful about representation and tokenism and how to actually just make something that's really cool and authentic visually,” added Lyn.
Lyn’s Bed Peace Intimates helps to highlight the importance of feeling comfortable in your skin, figuratively and literally, but furthermore it also actively encourages individuals to seek out comfort and helps them find it.
Currently, Bed Peace Intimates is on a brief hiatus but Lyn has plans to resume her business in the spring.
Escarpment Kombucha Co. is hand-crafting small batches of kombucha for the Hamilton community
As the only kombucha brewers local to the Hamilton area, Escarpment Kombucha Co. owners Robyn Starkey and Andrew Ernest are setting a precedent. They started their company in January 2020 and currently operate out of The Kitchen Collective on King Street East to brew and bottle their small-batch kombucha.
Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage. Starkey describes kombucha by noting that it is to tea what wine is to grape juice. Starkey and Ernest’s mixture undergoes two rounds of fermentation before it is strained, carbonated and transferred to a keg for distribution.
Starkey is originally from Mississauga, attended Dalhousie University for creative writing and English, then graduated to become a legal assistant. At the same time, Ernest became the manager of a coffee shop in Halifax. Together, the couple discovered a shared interest in home fermentation as a healthier alternative to sodas and juices.
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Upon settling in Hamilton, Starkey and Ernest decided to turn their passion project of two years into a business. Once a small studio apartment operation consisting of a bookshelf of kombucha for friends and family, the two put pen to paper in order to turn their dreams into a reality. The company’s name pays homage to the geography and wildlife of the Hamilton area by referring to the Hamilton escarpment.
“I think that Escarpment Kombucha Co. is trying to take kombucha at the local level and bring it to the city of Hamilton. We're trying to make a product that is as sustainable and delicious as possible without sacrificing on the health benefits. If you think you don't like kombucha or you've never tried it before, this is the kombucha you should try,” said Starkey.
"If you think you don't like kombucha or you've never tried it before, this is the kombucha you should try,” said Starkey
Ingredients for the kombucha are sourced locally wherever possible. They use tea from Toronto-based company Lemon Lily Tea. Fruits are sourced from Boreal Berry Farm in Warren, with seasonal ingredients from local farmers including Sunfire Herbals in Hamilton and Baba Link Farm in Flamborough.
“[Sourcing locally] is really great because if we make relationships with local people, then we get to be harvesting, processing and turning the ingredients into kombucha and selling them. It's a really satisfying part of the process . . . My favourite part of the summer was when I had an entire table of drying sumac and mint that I picked and there [were] hops in the cupboard, waiting to go,” said Starkey.
If you’re looking for a new flavour to pick up, a fan favourite is the raspberry lavender, made with raspberries from Boreal Berry Farms and lavender from Weir’s Lane Lavender in Dundas.
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Starkey’s personal favourite experimental flavour is pear hops, a seasonal variation which she described as cidery, with a hint of beer taste. Currently, they are in the process of experimenting with seabuckthorn, a sour berry that Starkey described as the liquid version of sour patch kids candy.
The company’s products are available at 17 retail locations near the Hamilton area and they currently offer free contact-free home delivery, which can be set up on a recurring basis for customers’ weekly, biweekly or monthly fix of kombucha.
Their kombucha is offered in growlers, a more sustainable option packaged in reusable glass bottles and sold at a discounted price to encourage zero-waste alternatives as the company works towards entirely zero-waste packaging. They currently utilize compostable seals and all of their bottles are returnable or reusable.
“We've only been in business for one year, but I would hope that [students] can see that the process of starting your own business and coming up with a big dream pays off. It’s really just making lists and getting it done and finding people to help you navigate. This is not what I went to school for — I was not a business student — but I really value that I was able to figure out what we were doing,” said Starkey.
“We've only been in business for one year, but I would hope that [students] can see that the process of starting your own business and coming up with a big dream pays off."
Escarpment Kombucha Co. is a testament to the importance of following your passions, which for Starkey and Ernest is brewing one small batch at a time. They have created a tasty and healthy beverage that they hope people in Hamilton and beyond will enjoy.
Midnight blue velvet covered in snowflakes, or red roses and lace entwined on sheer mesh fabric. These are a few of the pieces you can find within the collections at With Love Lingerie, an indie lingerie brand located in The Cotton Factory (270 Sherman Ave. N.). Carrie Russell, the owner and creator of With Love, says that the brand name was inspired by her process of making every piece with love.
With Love’s Instagram feed and promotional images emphasize body diversity. Before opening her own lingerie business, Russell worked in the mainstream lingerie industry, an industry with a history of leaving plus-size women out of their lines. Russell admits that when she first started With Love, she made pieces only in smalls, mediums or larges, with little wiggle-room for people who didn’t fit into those constraining categories. Even though she is an advocate for body positivity and acceptance, Russell didn’t initially notice the lack of inclusion. Her perspective changed when she realized she wasn’t included in her own line.
“[T]he minute I realized I wasn’t included in my own passion and my love for my business, it made me realize well who else I’m not including, like, what other people are not even able to enjoy the things that I feel really passionate about. And it wasn’t really out of, for me, not loving other people’s bodies. Because I just love people’s bodies. I love talking about self-love and body positivity … But it was not reflected in my line. That was a really big thing for me, and I’m continuing to work with that,” said Russell.
Pieces of lingerie hanging in Carrie Russell's space at the Cotton Factory. Photo by Jaden Hall / Video Editor
Social media—Instagram in particular—can have a negative impact on how people perceive their appearance. The app motivates users to focus on gaining likes and followers, and much of that is rooted in appearance and showcasing the “perfect body”. It’s important to remember that there’s no such thing as a perfect body, and even those who are considered perfect can still have difficulty accepting themselves. With Love aims to repair the relationship we have with our bodies, encouraging us to feel comfortable in our skin. Russell emphasizes the sense of empowerment that comes with lingerie, and the impact it can have on the journey towards body acceptance.
“[T]hings need to be made for people with love and to actually do that, you have to include and, and really embrace all different sorts of body types and also embrace and make people comfortable wherever they are in the journey of their body self image or their body positivity . . . I really do think it’s really exciting when I’m able to have someone try something on that they would never have really thought about wearing,” she said.
The majority of Russell’s designs are not very structured, meaning that most don’t have any underwires or corsetry, and she works predominantly in sheer mesh material. The lingerie is designed to move with the natural shape of the body, rather than seeking to restrict the person wearing it. With the ever-increasing popularity of waist cinchers, corsets and Spanx, it can be difficult to celebrate your body without feeling like it should be restrained. The sheer mesh designs aim to uncover and empower the body, emphasizing what’s already there.
“It’s almost better to highlight the things that you see as the assets to let them outshine the things that you may still not be totally in love with yet. And that’s exciting when that light bulb goes off in someone’s mind,” said Russell.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8RfZj1FZ4G/
While many people assume that lingerie is exclusively for younger women, Russell says that most of her clientele is actually more mature women, with an age range averaging between 30 and 60.
“I’m getting women in their 60s wearing sheer bodysuits and just living in them, which is great. And I think that truly is body positivity,” said Russell.
With Love also caters to demographics beyond older-aged women. Russell says that she recently started working with trans women, gender-fluid and nonbinary folks. She sees a lot of potential for With Love to help people become more comfortable expressing themselves and exploring their gender.
“[I]t’s been really rewarding working with people who felt really timid about expressing who they are. And they feel comfortable coming to me and coming to my showroom, having one on ones with me, and I’m able to see their journey [with] discovering themselves and expressing themselves as well with their creativity and accepting sort of what they see and adorning it with With Love. And I think that’s a really big honor and it’s something that has been . . . a really rewarding learning curve for me,” said Russell.
While much of the response that Russell has received has been positive, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding lingerie and creating lingerie. In Russell’s experience, particularly in North America, lingerie is kept a secret because it is viewed as something inherently sexual or inappropriate. She says that people are very shy, and “Puritan” about it. With Love Lingerie strives to change that stereotype. While lingerie can be sexual, it can also be an empowering form of self-expression.
Russell has also recently launched her second brand, Spill the Tea Consulting, providing social media support and help for other small businesses trying to reach clients. In doing so, she hopes to help grow the community of local artists in Hamilton, and to help them reach their audience and thrive.
Ultimately, Russell hopes that With Love Lingerie can foster a sense of empowerment in the people that wear her designs, allowing them to be at home and comfortable in their own bodies. She hopes that everyone can experience the same joy she feels when making lingerie, and that they can see that everything she does is made, of course, with love.
This article is part of our Sex and the Steel City, our annual sex-positive issue. Click here to read more content from the special issue.
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