"It's about time," Indigenous beaders, including one from Sudbury, showcase earrings at Winners

A Sudbury woman says seeing her beaded earrings for sale alongside other Indigenous jewellery in a mainstream Winners store has boosted her confidence immensely.

Dianna Ferderber, a member of Chapleau Cree First Nation in northern Ontario, first started beading during the pandemic and began by selling her earrings in an online shop called Biskane.com that features verified Indigenous art.

But the jump to the Winners chain came about thanks to legwork from the sales team with Biskane.com

Platform founder, Chad Solomon, an artist from Henvey Inlet First Nation, also in northern Ontario, has been working to get wider exposure for its Indigenous artists.

Solomon explained that he reached out to a number of retail companies to investigate opportunities for Indigenous arts and products to be carried in their stores. 

"And Winners happens to be looking to become a strong ally and trailblazer in supporting verified Indigenous arts into the retail space," said Solomon.

Ferderber was among seven Indigenous artists selected by Winners to provide inventory to stores across Canada last spring.

She remembers the day that she got the good news.

She was standing in a grocery store parking lot after work, and said she started screaming, then she called her daughter..

"I was in tears," she said. "And everyone's looking at me, like, is she OK? Because by then I'm in the grocery store. I was just so on a cloud that whole day, the rest of the day."

Three of her earring designs were selected: a blue ombre fringe style, a purple crystal teardrop and a white heart ringed with beads. 

Winners ordered fifty pairs of each.

She said her entire summer was spent beading, when she wasn't working as a personal support worker or taking care of her son, but she said the sore fingers were worth the thrill of seeing her earrings in Winners.

Around the time they were supposed to show up in stores, she said she haunted the jewellery counter, and was eventually rewarded.

There, among about a dozen pairs of earrings on display, were the ones that she had made herself.

"I started getting very emotional, almost crying, but not," she said of the day. "And then next thing I knew there were other customers coming around me because they're looking to see what I'm looking at."

She said someone bought a pair of her earrings on the spot.

Ferderber says she was again selected to provide earrings for a fall launch across Canada, including some with a black ombre fringe and a black heart surrounded by beads.

More partnerships with other retailers in the works

They too were recently set out in the showcase along with works from other Indigenous artists.

She's received a boost from the attention and says she's proud of what she and others have accomplished.

"It's about time," she said. "I love that we're taking up space now and I'm so grateful for Winners for taking that first step to do that. Hopefully others will follow suit."

That's something that Chad Solomon, the founder of Biskane.com, is working on.

He said he has secured another partnership with Winners' parent company, TJX, to supply Indigenous prints and artwork at its sister chains of home decor stores including Homesense.

Solomon said there's more to come, but he is keeping mum on the details.