Young artisan sets her sights on a career in design

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April Doepker huddles over some thread and a packet of beads. Her fingers work quickly as she works on another piece of jewellery for her display. She glances up when a potential customer strolls by her table, stopping to admire a necklace or pair of earrings. She greets them with a smile and a "hello" before she continues her work.

This is Doepker's second year at the Saskatoon International Fringe Festival, one of seven artisans at the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company's (SNTC) Aboriginal artisan village. She is also one of only a couple who returned from last year, the village's "pilot" year.

At only 25 years of age, Doepker is one of the younger artisans in the village. She has a strong interest in fashion design so, not surprisingly, she is selling clothing she has designed and made, as well as jewelery and hair accessories. The latter is mostly made with beads. Her most popular items have feature a beaded flower that looks like a lily on them-whether it's a necklace, ring, or hair clip.

"Some people have seen a flower they've liked, said they'd come back for it, and when they did, it was sold. So I've had to make special ones for them," she said.

Last year Doepker had a friend with her, so they had more items for sale. This year she had to continually make more pieces to replenish her stock.

Doepker was born in La Ronge and moved to Saskatoon when she was about four years old. She says she remembers making clothing years ago, starting in high school around age 15. She took a sewing class and then just started to design and make clothes, although she confesses she wasn't very good.

"My mom bought me my first sewing machine," she recalled. "I still have it." That was about 10 years ago.

Her mother, who happens to be SNTC's general manager Donna Heimbecker, also taught her some beading skills on a loom, but Doepker said most of her skills are self-taught through experimenting.

Doepker also gained experience from one year of schooling at the Yvonne Yuen School of Design in Saskatoon, and after that she went to a multimedia college in Montreal for two years where she again studied fashion design.

Since returning to Saskatoon, Doepker has designed costumes for a few SNTC performances, including Askiy and The Velvet Devil. It's been enough to keep her busy.

Her dream, though, is to eventually open her own store that would not only include her own labels, but other brands as well. She thinks Saskatoon would be a good place to start, but isn't sure if the city is where she'll end up staying.

She says she'll be sticking around for a while, though, as she and her boyfriend are expecting a baby at the end of September. Down the road, though, she's not sure, because one set of grandparents is here, but her boyfriend is from France, and that's where the other set of grandparents still lives.

Like everyone in the village, Doepker thinks it's important to have Aboriginal art at the Fringe.

"It's a good opportunity to show stuff to the people in Saskatoon," she said.