About Nishiin Designs

Nishiin Designs located in Sagkeeng First Nation, Manitoba, Canada. Nishiin Designs is a Handmade Bags and Accessories Online Shop. 

The name itself is a shortened version of the Anishinabe word  'O-Nishiin or O-nish-shi-shin' which basically means 'Nice'. This word was often used in a slang sense by young kids when I was a little kid, when trying to sound like the older folks to describe something really nice or neat. "Wuh-shy Nishiin!"

My work space is located centrally on the North Shore of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. Sagkeeng is located approximately an hour and a half north east of Winnipeg. The community is located on the mouth of the Winnipeg River where the river meets Lake Winnipeg, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world. Sagkeeng First Nation is an Anishinabe (Ojibway) Reserve and is a part of both Treaty 1 and Treaty 3 and is the second largest reserve in Manitoba.

Nishiin Designs is owned and operated by me (Cherie Fontaine). I am the owner, the only seamstress, I'm my own design team :), marketer, website builder, store keeper and janitor. I am an Anishinabekwe from Sagkeeng First Nation. I have lived here and been educated here my whole life with the exception of the years I attended University. Over the five years I was in University I attained a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education.

I enjoy my work it has always been my passion to create things. I believe I inherited this gift of making things from my late Kookum, my Grandmothers both Marie Sinclair and Elize Fontaine. My Grandmother Marie also had her own business here in Sagkeeng and was well known for her beautiful Starblankets. I was also very fortunate to have inherited her industrial sewing machines which I utilize every day I work. My Grandmother Elize was an accomplished knit and crocheter and today we still make daily use of her braided and hook rugs. 

So that's me and my business in a nutshell. I hope you enjoy my products and my website.

Meegwetch!

Cherie :)