Paurngaqturumaviit? Would you like some crowberries? Eva Aariak and I gathered so much of this fruit yesterday. While exploring Disko Island in Greenland, we discovered a bumper crop. Joy! We planned on hiking but ended up with our hands in the crowberry bushes much of the time. These berries are perfectly ripe, with the best…
Back to beautiful Greenland. Qilakitsoq, where I am standing, is where the ancient mummies that became known around the world were found. Several graves remain here. I am looking back towards the community of Uummannaq over an inlet scattered with ice.
I’m traveling aboard the National Geographic Explorer on an epic voyage. Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic are the generous sponsors of Meet the North, and their ship is taking me up the west coast of Ellesmere Island as I type. In an hour, we will enter Eureka Sound and begin to explore the world between two mythic…
Helping each other, techno-style. Eva Aariak from Iqaluit, Nunavut asks Tukumminnguaq Olsen in Sisimiut, Greenland for help to find an old friend. It worked! It was fun to hear them sharing – one in Greenlandic, the other in Inuktitut.
(Post 1 of 5) Soriina Davidsen works with sealskin. “It is so beautiful, and it’s different every time.” She is a designer in Sisimiut and learned her craft through courses at the municipality and the Knud Rasmussen Folk School. The skins comes from hunters around Greenland who supply to a company called Great Greenlandic. Soriina…
(Post 2 of 5) This guy came into the sealskin and wool workshop in Sisimiut, Greenland as part of a calendar, and he never left. Three young women work here creating clothing out of sealskin and muskox wool. “The one who is washing the dishes can look at him.”
(Post 3 of 5) Soriina Davidsen, designer She is proud of these vests; the fabric is 100% sealskin. “I work a lot. At home, I don’t do any sewing. My boyfriend had to wait two years to get a zipper on his jacket.”
(Post 4 of 5) Vera Larsen, seamstress Vera learned this craft from Soriina. “We all have the feeling that the things can be more beautiful, but we are proud of what we make.”
(Post 5 of 5) Magdalene Berthelsen, knitter Magdalene she works with qiviut, the underfur of muskox. It’s an expensive fiber, but what you get is deliciously soft and several times warmer than lamb’s wool. “This one I’m really proud of. I just made it last week.”
“Maki” Ulrik Lybert. “If you want to survive in Greenland, you have to be able to do everything.” So this teacher became an entrepreneur. He’s banking it all on seaweed. It’s pure; it’s simple; it’s healthy . . . and it’s all over the place. Maki takes his boat out, drags the kelp up using…