A newly launched project intends to give people living in Attawapiskat the means to make and sell their own artistic creations to markets well beyond the northern Ontario reserve.

The project has been dubbed Design Points North and involves business and labour professionals, as well as aboriginal leaders.

Toronto fashion designer Linda Lundstrom has been gathering sewing machines, threads and fabrics that will be sent to Attawapiskat for budding artists to use and create their own designs.

Lundstrom hopes the project will help Attawapiskat residents “express who they really are and share that beautiful gift with the rest of Canada.”

Members of Design Points North will head up to Attawapiskat in February to hold a workshop and to deliver supplies, as well as a yurt that will serve as a community art centre.

In the long term, the project aims to sell art that is created in Attawapiskat at the Design Point North store in Toronto and potentially at other Canadian stores.