The Globe and Mail - 22.02.2020

P4| PURSUITS OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,2020

There are two types of people in this world. People who

get on a plane, slip on their eye mask, pop in their head-

phones and tune out the world, and the people they are

hiding from. Too harsh? In a world with limited places

where you can escape the ping of your e-mail, the ring of

your cellphone and the demands of your boss, an air-

plane seat feels like the last great opportunity for self-

imposed silence. So, when someone sits down beside

you and immediately strikes up a conversation, what’s a

traveller to do? Lisa Orr, the owner of Orr Etiquette in

Toronto, says the answer is to be direct and assertive.

“On a flight, you’re entitled to that quiet space,” Orr

says. “It’s always best to set the tone for what kind of

flight you’d like to have right off the bat. The key is to be

polite but clear as soon as you sit down, so that the peo-

ple who sit next to you know that you are not their con-

versational buddy for the flight.”

As soon as you figure out who your neighbours are,

you should make your intentions known.

“I’ll say, ‘I’m sure you won’t mind but I was hoping to

have a quiet flight today because ...’ and insert my rea-

son,” Orr says. It could be a book you’re reading; sleep

you’re catching up on or a report you have to finish. She

adds that using a prop (book, headphones, laptop) will

hammer the message home.

“By saying, ‘I’m sure you won’t mind ... ’, it gives [the

offending neighbour] an opportunity to say ‘Of course

not!’ and everyone exits the situation without hurt feel-

ings,” she says.

And if they ignore you? Go back to the beginning of

the script and repeat as you might with a child who is

pestering you.

“Sometimes you need repetition for emphasis,” Orr

says, adding that a little white lie is okay, too.

“I’m so sorry, I totally forgot I have to finish ‘x.’ ” is per-

fectly acceptable, she says. “These are complete strang-

ers. You have a little latitude.”

The other thing to consider though, is that sometimes

the conversation you’re avoiding is one you might be

glad you had.

Torontonian Garfield Richards says an impromptu

conversation on a flight led to one of the most interesting

conversations he’s ever had with a stranger. “We ex-

changed business cards at the end of our flight and we do

keep in touch, though infrequently,” he says. “This was all

very shocking to me because I dread talking to anyone on

an airplane and usually avoid it.”

Still not convinced? Sandra Hume, a content marketer

in Colorado, has a fail-safe method she uses to minimize

the chance of bad conversation. On the rare occasion

when she gives in to chatting, she makes sure it’s while

the plane is descending. “I guess I figure if I made a mis-

take, time will run out soon enough.”

–HEATHERGREENWOODDAVIS

SpecialtoTheGlobeandMail

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PERSONALCONCIERGE

HowcanIget

myairplaneseat

neighbourtostop

talkingtome?

P

arniga Akeeagok’s first time

in New York wasn’t a typical

tourist trip. While she did jet

around the city to see the sights,

the Iqaluit resident was primarily

in town to show off her parka de-

signs. A territorial manager with

Nunavut’sgovernment by day,

Akeeagok is a passionate designer

in her free time. She creates one-

of-a-kind parkas, outerwear and

accessories under Akulik Cre-

ations, and is part of a cohort of

Inuit sewers who collaborated

with Canada Goose for Project

Atigi, a capsule collection of par-

kas designed to bring the sewing

heritage of Inuit peoples – a com-

munity Canada Goose works with

often – to the world stage. Akeea-

gok spoke to The Globe and Mail

about how important sewing is to

her and her community, and why

it matters that her designs are

now in front of a global audience.

Canyouexplaintomehow

importantsewingistoInuit

culture,thetraditionofthecraft?

Well, our ancestors – women in

particular – had to sew traditional

clothing to survive in the harsh

climate. You know, anywhere

from -40 and colder, adjusting

those clothing types for the cli-

mate we endure, you know, [the

clothing] allows us to survive.

Theartofparkadesign,isthat

justuptothesewer’screativity?

AndI’mguessingit’sstillmostly

womenwhoaredoingit?

Nowadays, the majority is wom-

en. But, you know, men have ex-

plored that for quite some time,

for repairing. If they didn’t have a

partner or somebody to repair

their clothing, this is something

that they had to do as well. And

nowadays, men are taking on that

skill and making their own parkas

as well.

WhenIlookatyourpiecesfor

AkulikCreations,alotofthemlook

likeone-offdesigns.

Yes, that’s something I want to say

that comes with a lot of seam-

stresses in our territory and Inuit

from all four regions [in Inuit Nu-

nangat]. Long ago, you could de-

termine who’s coming from what

region based on their design. And

today, it continues to be that way.

I want to say you could pinpoint

where somebody is coming from

based on their coat and what

team or what their interests are.

So yeah, we don’t normally make

two coats that are exactly the

same. That’s the beauty when

we’re creating our garments.

Wheredoyoufindinspiration

foryourdesigns?

My inspirations come from elders

and women across Canada that

are Inuit. I think it’s a motivation

for each one of us. We use differ-

ent trims. I mean, with traditional

clothing, the design has, I want to

say, evolved. We use modern ways

of designing our clothing. Each

person demonstrates their art in a

different way. And whether we’re

inspired by, you know, this artist

from this region, we always put a

different twist to certain things on

the coat.

Howdidyoulearnabout

ProjectAtigi?

I had a few friends who were in-

volved last year, and they inspired

me to apply if there was another

chance to do so. The opportunity

came and I felt that this would be

a great challenge and to demon-

strate my skill as well. So I saw

that there was that opportunity,

and I went for that.

Whenyoufoundoutyouwerein

theprogram,whatwastheprocess

liketodesignyourparka?

It is a collection where you design

five parkas that are different sizes,

but the same style. The thing

that’s different there is, you know,

the challenge there for me – and I

want to say many others – is that

in our culture, we use our hands

as a tool to measure, whether it be

our knuckle here, our hand, you

know, these were our tools to

measure. We look at somebody

and we size them up visually. And

so using the measurements that

were provided to us on a scale,

like being small, medium, large,

like a chart, I took those measure-

ments and incorporated them in-

to my patterns to create what we

had to create in our collection.

Takingintoaccounttheideaof

appreciationversusappropriation,

howimportantisthattoyouwhen

you’recreatingthesedesignsfor

non-Inuitwearers?

This showcases Inuit culture, her-

itage, their skill – it educates peo-

ple on a global front. I think that

definitely speaks volumes in the

way Canada Goose invited us and

involved us, to come to our home,

to see our home, how they’re

showcasing each woman, each in-

dividually, and where they’ve

come from. That in itself shows

that somebody cares and that it’s

not just for show.

Whatdoyouhopepeople

learnaboutInuitcraftanddesign

fromtheseparkasandfromthis

project?

I think our culture is so unique.

And it shows in how we design

our clothing. It demonstrates

who we are. Our culture is impor-

tant to us. And I think globally,

when people see our art, you

know, we create these things

based on our climate, too. And I

think it’s important to showcase

that. It’s a form of educating peo-

ple all over the world, where we

live, where we come from.

–MARYAMSIDDIQI

ILL4STRATIONBY SALINI-ERERA

Astatementcoat

InuitdesignerParnigaAkeeagokexplainswhyitmatters

thattraditionalouterwearhasaglobalaudience