About the brand
MINI TIPI is reconciliation you can wrap yourself in. Founded in Gatineau in 2016 by Trisha Pitura, a member of Nipissing First Nation, and Mélanie Bernard, the Indigenous- and women-owned brand makes blankets and accessories carrying authentic Indigenous designs. For example, its Signature Collection of Pitura's own patterns, and an Impact Collection paying royalties to collaborating Indigenous artists on every metre produced. Everything is designed, cut, sewn and finished locally, sustaining a 20-person regional team, while fabric offcuts and monthly donations flow back to community organizations. The partnership at its centre, Indigenous and non-Indigenous founders building together, is the brand's quiet manifesto. MINI TIPI has made beautiful objects into instruments of economic reconciliation. It is one of the country's clearest models of what an ethical, Indigenous-led business looks like.
