From the Trades to Tradition: The Story Behind Torngat Treasures
Hi, I’m Angela, the owner and maker behind Torngat Treasures.
I’m an Inuk from Nunatsiavut, now living in Calgary, Alberta.
Torngat Treasures has grown and changed alongside me. It started in 2021 as a small home-based business making natural products for myself, long before sealskin became such an important part of what I do.
Where It Started
I spent more than a decade working in the trades as a plumber, mostly in new commercial and industrial construction. Long days doing physically demanding work meant sore muscles, dry hands, and being constantly exposed to dust, dirt, concrete, drywall, and everything else that comes with a construction site.
I wanted products that could actually keep up with my everyday life, and I wanted to know exactly what I was putting on my skin. So I started learning how to make my own.
One of the first products I created was a strong muscle rub because, quite simply, I needed it. Being a smaller woman working a physically demanding trade took a toll, and sore, tense muscles were just part of everyday life. That muscle rub eventually became one of my best-selling products.
The job sites weren’t particularly kind to my hair either. Concrete and drywall dust would leave it dry, brittle, and tangled, and my fine hair knots incredibly easily. That led me to start making my own hair oil and detangler.
One product led to another, and what started as me trying to solve my own everyday problems slowly grew into a line of handmade natural products.
I wasn’t really setting out to build a business. I was making things that I needed, figuring out what worked, and learning as I went.
Reconnecting With My Inuit Roots
Torngat Treasures took a much more personal turn after my grandfather passed away.
My grandfather was Inuk, like me, although we didn’t grow up living a traditionally cultural lifestyle. After losing him, I found myself wanting to reconnect with my culture, my heritage, and where I came from.
Before returning home to Calgary after his funeral, I purchased about $1,000 worth of furs and made myself a promise that I was going to learn.
And then they sat there.
For about six to eight months.
I had no formal training, no classes, no templates, and honestly, no real idea what I was doing. I just knew that I wanted to learn.
One of the few pieces of advice I had came from an Aunty and an older cousin: always use a sharp knife to cut the pelt, never scissors, or you’ll cut and ruin the hair.
So eventually, I sat down with those furs and started.
My first pieces were simple. I experimented with furry sealskin earrings, bracelets, and small projects while I figured out how the material behaved and how to work with it. From there, I kept challenging myself to try something new.
Over time, those first experiments grew into sealskin jewelry and accessories, framed fur artwork, ornaments, Ookpiks, and more detailed three-dimensional pieces that I hand-cut and hand-sew.
Everything I know about fur work has been self-taught through patience, practice, plenty of trial and error, and a willingness to keep learning.
And I’m still learning.
Where Torngat Treasures Is Today
Today, Torngat Treasures is focused primarily on handcrafted genuine sealskin jewelry, accessories, wall art, Ookpiks, and other northern-inspired creations, while still carrying the natural-product roots that started this business.
One of the things I love most about working with genuine sealskin is that every hide is different. The colours, markings, texture, and direction of the fur naturally vary, which means no two pieces I make will ever be exactly alike.
For me, Torngat Treasures has become about much more than simply making things to sell.
It has become a way for me to reconnect with my Inuit heritage, work with traditional materials, continue learning, and create something meaningful from where I came from while still making it my own.
I’m not someone who grew up knowing how to do all of this. I’m learning as I go, and I don’t think that learning will ever really stop. That’s an important part of my story and an important part of Torngat Treasures.
Every piece teaches me something.
And every person who purchases something I’ve made allows me to keep creating, learning, and continuing that connection.
Nakummek. Thank you for supporting Torngat Treasures and being part of my journey.
Angela
Owner & Maker of Torngat Treasures