Winner Announced – Eighth Generation’s 2019 Wool Blanket Design Contest

Geo Neptune

Published June 29, 2019

SEATTLE — Eighth Generation, a Seattle based company, revitalized the wool blanket market by becoming the first Native-owned company to offer wool blankets, with 100% of its products designed in partnership with Native artists. In February of 2019, they launched their second Wool Blanket Design Contest.  After careful review of over 200 submissions from all across the United States and Canada, the Eighth Generation team narrowed the field to 13 semi-finalists, then 4 finalists.

Following phone interviews with the final four contestants, Eighth Generation has finally announced the winner: Passamaquoddy Master Basket Maker Geo Neptune! The blanket created with the winner will be among the highest profile of Eighth Generation’s 60 blanket designs, each designed by a Native artist.

Eighth Generation founder, Louie Gong (Nooksack) says, “At Eighth Generation, we’re radically updating the American dream by disrupting legacy industries built on fake cultural art. We want to share that American dream—let’s call it the Native American dream—with the community, and the contest is our way of doing that.”

The Winner

Geo Neptune (Passamaquoddy at Indian Township) is a Two-Spirit Master Basket Maker and has been making baskets since they were 4 years old, primarily learning from their grandmother, Molly. Geo’s goal as an artist is to use baskets and stories to create pieces that not only inspire Indigenous youth to practice their culture and find new ways to be Indigenous, but to also inspire other Two-Spirits across turtle island to reclaim their sacred roles within their communities.To learn more about the contest winner, check out Eighth Generation’s blog post here!