As a young girl, growing up around her grandparents in Nome, Buffy Meyer never realized the influence they would have on her until later in life. Her grandfather depended on the land to provide traditional foods and materials, which helped supplement his income. She watched them harvest and process seals and walrus. They went boating and fishing, and gathered berries and tundra greens at his many different camps. It wasn’t just for recreation; everything was a way of life, including her grandpa’s carving and ulu making, and her grandma’s sewing and beading of mukluks. Over 30 years have gone by since living in Nome as a child, and her grandparents are now gone. Buffy has so many treasured memories of them and the surrounding area; they have become the base of her creations and designs.

Inupiat Charms ~ Designs by Buffy began after she wanted a few contemporary pieces made from her first seal hunt. Buffy’s designs were just drawings on paper and after trying unsuccessfully to find someone locally to make them, she decided to make her outfit and accessories herself. She was equipped with tips from elders, a borrowed machine, a few gathered tools and it was a success! She wore a few of the designs she had completed to a convention in Anchorage in October of 2010. It’s then that she realized she had a gift that needed to be further developed.

Buffy found a passion for understanding more of her Inupiaq culture and the other native cultures of Alaska, and began learning about fur and leather handling along with their traditions and history. After the success of her first product Buffy completed her other designs and three and a half months later launched them to the public during Fur Rendezvous/Iditarod 2011. (Fur Rondy originally started as a time when trappers brought their furs to town for sale. This started many traditions like the Miners and Trappers Ball and other games. The Iditarod, the world famous sled dog race, originated shortly after and they are now combined events in Anchorage.) Then, with the encouragement of her mom, she and her mom followed the Iditarod and went to Nome for the finish of the Last Great Race.

The first year of offering her designs, Christmas orders poured in and she wasn’t able to fulfill them due to a lack of available tanned seal skins. As some call it, she was “seal hide poor.” It was not a fun place to be. 

Business started out slow but due to the lack of hides, this was a good thing. It allowed her to learn more about chemical tanning of her own hides. After seeing someone on the Internet selling tanning equipment, chemicals and his notes, along with being told seal hides were going to be hard to come by because of a lack of tanneries, Buffy realized the need to add tanning to her services/designs. With this new endeavor she needed assistance from her local native council, Knik Tribal. They put her in connection with a program that provided the help she needed to get started. From there she set up her home tannery and began experimenting in hide tanning on different “green” hides she was able to get ahold of, including sea otters. Eventually, by the end of the year, she was able to experiment on some seals that she personally harvested and tanned, then started her sewing in January 2012.

In March 2013, Buffy and her fiancé invested in a boat and spent a big part of late spring and early summer learning the local waters of Prince William Sound. It proved to be extremely tiring work hunting, skinning, processing meat, and working the hides on her own. With great timing, her brother and his two teenage boys became interested in learning and they turned into a boating, hunting, skinning and tanning family.

As her design sales continue to grow, Buffy is no longer “seal hide poor.” Her work isn’t hindered by material availability. She hopes that providing her tanning services to those that harvest seals will not only help herself but other Alaskan Natives, because they now will be able to have locally tanned hides. Tanning her own skins will also provide a learning source for her family to carry on the traditions of her Inupiaq grandparents. It warms her heart when her nieces and nephews show so much interest in the process that has been passed on for so many years. 

Suppor Duffy through her art by visiting her website.