Announcing our 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest

Each week, we receive a high volume of inquiries from incredible Indigenous artists that are interested in collaborating with us on a wool blanket design. Although honored, we aren’t able to say yes as often as we would love to. Inspired by this interest, we excitingly launched our first wool blanket design contest in 2017 and brought it back again in 2019 and 2021. We are thrilled to return again with our 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest!

Watch the 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest announcement video here

Our 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest will select one Native artist to design our next blanket. The winner will be determined by (insert who). Visit our 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest page to learn more about how to enter!

We are honored to have worked with so many amazing and talented artists as a result of our contest including the two winners of our 2017 contest: Diné/Navajo artist Jared Yazzie with his Tribute Wool Blanket and Tsimshian artist David Robert Boxley with his Confluence Wool Blanket. Our 2019 contest produced one of our most popular blankets—the Remembrance Wool Blanket designed by Niskapisuwin artist Geo Neptune. Additionally, in 2021, we had three more incredible contest winners: Osage artist Dante Biss-Grayson with his Warrior Wool Blanket, the Legacy Wool Blanket by Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw artist Jonnie Jae, and Cherokee artist Bryan Waytula with his Cherokee Treasure Wool Blanket.

Our 2021 Wool Blanket Design Contest Winners

Legacy Wool Blanket

Legacy Wool Blanket designed by Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw)

We exist at the intersection between the wildest dreams of our ancestors and our fervent prayers for our descendants. In her Legacy Wool Blanket, Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw artist and disability advocate Johnnie Jae blends symbols that are important to her family, her tribe, and the Native community as a whole, weaving a story of legacy and good wishes that is told across generations. The central design combines peyote birds and a stylized sun, symbolizing the beauty and power of fully embracing who you are and the legacies of those who came before you. A self-proclaimed “Indigenerd”, Johnnie aspires to create revolutionary healing and change in the world through the power of radical imagination. Find more information on their beautiful Legacy design here.

Cherokee Treasure Wool Blanket

Cherokee Treasure Wool Blanket designed by Bryan Waytula (Cherokee)

A third-generation artist and visual storyteller, Bryan is the son and grandson of two Cherokee National Treasures in Basketry. He values the importance of continuing to bring generations together through Indigenous art and practices by honoring our elders before us and passing on the knowledge they gave to us. In his Cherokee Treasure Wool Blanket, Bryan adapts age-old basket designs to be woven in this modern blanket, fusing past and present in a product that is easily accessible to a global audience in a way that one-of-a-kind baskets aren't able to be. His design honors his mother, grandmother, and lineage of Cherokee basket weavers showcasing the noon day sun, double peace pipe, chief's daughter, and double chief's daughter. Find more information on his exquisite Cherokee Treasure design here.

Warrior Wool Blanket
Warrior Wool Blanket designed by Dante Biss-Grayson (Osage)

A Native American USAF Veteran and member of the Osage Nation (Eagle clan) with tours in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Italy, Dante is also an artist, activist, husband, and father. After returning home from multiple tours of duty, he found art and fashion as a healthy means of healing his trauma. His Warrior Wool Blanket honors the special courage, strength, and sacrifice of his fellow women and men in the armed forces. Dante uses vibrant blue and yellow which are colors that often appear in military honors as well as his other work. He also includes three stars in the center of his blanket, which the viewer can infuse with personal meaning—do they represent a military award, a hard-won achievement, or even the soul of a warrior? Click here for more information about his meaningful Warrior design.

Are You Eighth Generation’s Next Wool Blanket Designer?

We are delighted to hold our 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest August 1, 2024 through August 31, 2024. Any Native American or First Nation artist can enter and we can’t wait to see your submissions! Visit the 2024 Wool Blanket Design Contest page here and please share with family, friends, and artists. To see additional work from artists like Jared Yazzie (Diné), David Robert Boxley (Tsimshian), and Jonnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), check out our shop by artist page on our website.