He hasn’t even started high school yet – but at 12 years old, Cohen Quash is well on his way to becoming a top designer and beader.
His claim to fame – and his namesake – are his meticulously beaded owl pendants.
“It’s my great, great-grandma Barbara’s spirit animal. She really loved owls and I kind of loved owls too. I watch Harry Potter movies a lot too, and the owl Hedwig, that’s where the name came from,” he tells APTN News.
Quash’s first collection drop, based on Harry Potter inspired owls, sold out in less than 24 hours.
Since then, he’s already had a photoshoot complete with models sporting his creations, a trade with Tlingit and Nuxalk designer Heather Dickson and touts Kaska fashion designer Sho Sho Esquiro as his mentor.
Quash lives in Watson Lake, Yukon, and has Tahltan, Tlingit and Kaska ancestry, which he incorporated into his businesses’ name, Mésdzįh Eskiye Designs.
Mésdzįh is Kaska for owl; Eskiye is Tahltan for boy. The name honours Morris and another of Quash’s great-grandmothers, Pansy Forsberg, who helped foster his love of beading.
Forsberg, who is Tahltan, says it was just a few years ago Quash asked her if she could teach him how to bead.
The pair began making purses, and Quash’s quick learning and skill led them to design more complicated projects like his now-signature owl pendants.
However, she says Quash struggled to get the hang of the pendants at first.
“After he started sewing it I showed him the mistakes he made. I showed him how to take it apart and redo it. And he did really well,” Forsberg recalls.
Now with more intricate designs under his belt, like an owl in flight for his grade seven regalia and anime-inspired earrings, Forsberg says Quash is becoming an accomplished beader.
“He just has imagination putting all this together. He really inspires me,” she says.
Quash says beading with his great-grandmother is time they cherish spending together.
“We talk, we watch movies sometimes together, we just bead together,” he says.
Breaking gender norms
Quash says it’s not common to see boys beading – something that pleasantly surprised his 97-year-old great-grandmother Minnie when he showed her an owl pendant.
“She was like ‘Holy man, you’re a boy sewing,’ because she was saying ‘when I was younger only girls were allowed to sew and guys were not allowed to sew, they’d go hunting and all that,’” he says.
Now, he hopes his work will inspire other boys to break stereotypes around beading and design.
“I would say it doesn’t matter, right? I think boys should bead and I would love to see more male beaders have their own businesses. I’d be really happy,” he says.
Forsberg says beading belongs to everyone, not just one gender.
“Well for me I’m thinking Cohen’s a boy but and it’s all girl stuff, but really it isn’t girl’s stuff it’s boy’s stuff too,” she says.
Quash says another photoshoot will soon be in the works, along with more collection drops, and he’s excited for what the future holds.
“To know that when I’m older I can take care of myself with my business…it’s a big achievement for me,” says the Mésdzįh Eskiye.
