News Release

Eighth Generation

Eighth Generation, the first Native American-owned company to offer wool blankets, has unveiled the first blanket designed to honor LGBTQ people who are traditionally held in high regard in tribal communities.

The blanket was designed in collaboration with Two Spirit artist Ryan Young (Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) based on a painting by Young inspired by a traditional Ojibwe story about crows.

The story goes that the crow was once very colorful and had a beautiful singing voice, but during a forest fire, it spent so much time trying to help the other animals that its colorful feathers became blackened with soot and its beautiful singing voice turned hoarse from the smoke.

In the following video, Young unveils the new Two Spirit Blanket at an event at the University of Washington’s Intellectual House:

The Two Spirit Blanket

Cost: $208.00

Availability: Now for Sale at Eighth Generation's flagship store in Pike Place Market and online at www.eighthgeneration.com.

Two Spirit Blanket - front. Image Courtesy: Eighth Generation

Two Spirit Blanket - back. Image Courtesy: Eighth Generation

About Eighth Generation

Eighth Generation launched the Inspired Natives Project in 2014 as a way to provide economic and business education opportunities for Native artists. The Project is a collaboration in which community-based artists – whose cultural art is often appropriated by large companies - are treated as partners and offered business skills development and mentorship to build their business capacity and distribute artwork globally.