Named by local Elders after her great-grandmother in the customary Inuvialuit way, Taalrumiq is not only the name of her label, business and social media channels, but her traditional Inuit name, used in her professional work.
A contemporary Canadian Indigenous Fashion Designer, Taalrumiq shares Inuvialuit culture with the world through meaningful fashion, garments ad accessories, incorporating traditional designs with a contemporary vision, each piece with a story to tell. Using the same skills, talent and passion inherited from her long matrilineal line of expert Inuit Seamstresses and Gwich'in Jijuu, what was once necessary for survival in the arctic is now cultural preservation, reclaiming and taking pride in Indigenous identity, storytelling, creative expression and authentic representation. Inuvialuit culture from an Inuvialuit perspective.
Highlights
2025 Runway of Rezilience at Casa Loma, Seeing Red Media, Toronto
2025 Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Indigenous Haute Couture fashion residency: Creation & Embellishment
2025 Work featured in North of North
2024 Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity Indigenous Haute Couture fashion residency: Digital embellishments
2024 Work featured in Avatar the Last Airbender, Time Magazine
2024 Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, Vancouver
2024 Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival, Toronto
2024 1 of 10 Inuvialuit Performers and Designers to know, Inuit Art Foundation
2023 Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, Vancouver
2023 APTN 7TH GEN, season 2, episode 4
2022 Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Indigenous Haute Couture fashion residency
2022 1 of 10 Inuit Sealskin Designers to watch, Inuit Art Foundation
2022 Indigenous Fashion Arts Marketplace
Taalrumiq's Pandemic Masks
Taalrumiq, Inuvialuit Fortitude, 2021. Pandemic mask, 1 of 2. Sealskin, fringe, geometric trim applique, beads, sequins, birch bark, leather, fabric, ptarmigan feather. Now in the permanent collection of Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, NT.
Fine Art
Using the same ancient traditional materials that her mother, grandmothers and ancestors used, Taalrumiq creates original Inuit fine art that reference Inuvialuit history, contemporary existence and experience in today's world. She sources traditional materials from the Inuvialuit Settlement Region with help from family and friends, upcycles thrifted materials and fur into her art and fashion pieces.
Inuvialuit-izing digital spaces
Taalrumiq’s social media channels feature compelling, educational short format videos about Inuvialuit culture, art, clothing, traditional cuisine, lifestyle, original skits and humour. She is Inuvialuit-izing popular trends, ensuring authentic representation and visibility on popular social media platforms.
2024 TikTok Canada Visionary Voices 2024
2023 TikTok University - content creation professional development
2023 Food Network Canada (now Flavour Network) digital content creator
2023 Content created for Slice.ca and History channels
2022 TikTok North America Community managed creator
2021 Indigenous Creator Circle, TikTok Canada
2021 TikTok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators, presented by the National Screen Institute of Canada
Cultural Education
Background
Taalrumiq hails from Tuktuuyaqtuuq (Tuktoyaktuk), Northwest Territories. She was raised with her Inuvialuit family and community in Tuktuuyaqtuuq, Inuvialuit Settlement Region on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, immersed in Sallirmiut Inuvialuit culture. Inuvialuit are the Inuit of Canada’s western arctic.
Born in a segregated Indian Hospital in Amiskwaciwâskahikan, treaty 6 territory (Edmonton, AB) to an Inuvialuk Mother and Gwich'in Father, both residential school survivors.
Gifted an ancestral name at birth, Taalrumiq was named after her great grandmother, Taalrumiq (Mary Gruben), by local Elders in the customary Inuvialuit way. It wasn’t until adulthood she felt pride and courage to reclaim and actively use her traditional name.
Sewing alongside her mother from a young age, learning and living Inuvialuit ways of being, her cultural identity is Inuvialuit, though she is proud of her Gwich’in background, enjoying every opportunity to learn more from family, community and mentors.
Taalrumiq descends from a long matrilineal line of expert Inuit seamstresses and beadwork artists from her patrilineal Gwich’in line.
Taalrumiq is a married mother of 5, currently an urban Inuvialuk residing in northern BC, on unceded, traditional lands of the Tsimshian.
Formal Education
Graduate student, year 2, Master of Fine Art, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, 2024-2026
Land based program, Indigenous self determination, hide camp and Inuvialuit traditions, Dechinta, 2023
Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology, Career & Technology Studies: Home Economics major, art minor, University of Alberta
Bachelor of Education in Secondary Education, University of Alberta
Journeyman Red Seal Hairstylist
Workshops
Sealskin Solidarity Heart Pin sewing workshop to bring awareness and facilitate conversation about the Residential School System and healing through sewing with an ancient Inuit material
Sealskin rainbow pins & necklaces
Sealskin & fox fur beaded earrings
Public Speaking
Cultural presentations, panelist, motivational speaking
Social Media Training
Sharing what I have learned to facilitate learning for creating, growing and maintaining a social media presence