05/21/2026
The Textile Museum of Canada commissioned two digital garments for Always in Fashion — a project working directly with named Indigenous designers. First piece in the show: KLASLA "Peace Dancer" by Himikalas Pamela Baker (Tlingit/Haida/Squamish).
Her design is a contemporary rendition of a Chilkat blanket — traditionally a textile carrying clan identity or a family story. Pamela's version functions as a personal Chilkat, representing her family lineage: herself, her two sons, two grandchildren.
Starting from her sketches, my job was to bring the garment into 3D — Marvelous Designer for the patterns and fabric simulation, ZBrush for the body sculpt, Cinema 4D for assembly, OctaneRender for the final pass. With Zacoya Johnny-Sinclair, a Toronto-based Indigenous model whose face the digital character carries.
The finished piece plays on a screen inside the exhibition.
A real thank you to Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, who curated the exhibition and backed this workflow when it was still purely experimental — before any of us could see how it would turn out. That belief in art and craft, and the trust to support something with an uncertain outcome, is rare. She gave me the room to find it.
None of this happens without Ignazio Nicastro either — he produced it from the first call to final delivery, holding the artists, the curator, the museum, and me all together. The glue of the whole collaboration, and the best kind of person to build something like this with.
Designed by · Model · Curated by · Commissioned by · Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts
