News Release
Eighth Generation
Eighth Generation, a groundbreaking lifestyle brand owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe, weaves an important message of food sovereignty, land rights, Native traditions, and the unalienable right to live “the good life” in their newest made-in-Seattle wool blanket.
“This blanket makes such an important statement,” says Colleen Echohawk (Pawnee, Athabascan), Eighth Generation’s CEO. “There are so many layers of meaning in Sarah’s design, and it really walks in two worlds: it tells a story and has a message, and it also looks beautiful in your home as just a gorgeous blanket.”
The name of the blanket — the Good Life — is a direct quote from the 1854 treaty signed by the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people with the US government. “The (treaty) language specifically says that we reserve our right to our good life,” says Sarah Agaton Howes, the Anishinaabe artist who designed the blanket. “That means we kept our right to food sovereignty. We kept our water rights. We kept the fundamental right to go out on the land, to feed our families with the bounty Mother Earth shares with her children. We kept the right to use our canoes, to be surrounded by wild rice, to celebrate the water, and protect our place in this beautiful gift that is the world.”
The blanket, machine-knit from 100% Merino wool in Eighth Generation’s Seattle studio, features traditional and contemporary Ojibwe botanical designs of wild rice and flowers, coupled with swimming walleye, fishing spears, and a canoe. The blanket’s design directly illustrates many of the concepts central to the Ojibwe “good life,” while sharing many of the tradition’s Howes’ family keeps central to their lifestyle.
“I’m doing the work to make sure that myself and my family can live what we Anishinaabe people know as mino bimaadiziiwin — the good life,” says Howes. “Because my grandparents and great grandparents were taken to Christian-run boarding schools, they were not allowed to engage with or learn these ways, while also falsely being taught our way of life was illegal. This generation — my generation—is working to reconnect with our traditional way of life. I’m purposely reengaging with this good life.”
In addition to showing wild rice — a staple of Anishinaabe diet — the Good Life Blanket features walleye and fishing spears. In the last several decades, walleye spearfishing has become a lightning rod for regulatory bodies and groups looking to further curtail indigenous rights and cultural practices. Protests — sometimes violent — have taken place at Midwestern lakes while Native people try to practice their culture.
“This blanket is central to the work we do at Eighth Generation,” says Echohawk. “As a home goods company, each Eighth Generation product is created by a Native artist and contributes to the Native legacy of art and education. Native people have such a history of storytelling, as well as sharing teachings and values through the designs in our art. Sarah’s “Good Life Blanket” does all of those things: it shares history and traditions, while infusing this heirloom-quality blanket with values that can be shared and taught across families and generations.”
More information on Eighth Generation can be found here: https://eighthgeneration.com/pages/about-us
More information on the Good Life Gold Label Throw Blanket can be found here: https://eighthgeneration.com/blogs/blog/the-good-life
The Good Life Gold Label Throw Blanket can be purchased here: https://eighthgeneration.com/collections/blankets/products/good-life-gold-label-throw-blanket
About Eighth Generation
Eighth Generation is a Seattle-based art and lifestyle brand owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe. Founded in 2008, when Louie Gong (Nooksack)—an artist, activist, and educator widely known for merging traditional Coast Salish art with influences from his urban environment to make strong statements about identity—started customizing shoes in his living room. Now the first Native-owned company to ever produce wool blankets — with a flagship retail store in Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market—Eighth Generation is a proud participant in the global economy.
Eighth Generation provides a strong, ethical alternative to “Native-inspired” art and products through its artist-centric approach and 100% Native designed products. Our Inspired Natives™ Project, anchored by the tagline Inspired Natives™, not “Native-inspired,” builds business capacity among cultural artists while addressing the economic impact of cultural appropriation.
