Crystal and Rico Worl. Courtesy Trickster Company.
Crystal Worl and her brother Rico are co-owners of Trickster Company, a Juneau-based business that features Alaska Native design, artwork, and jewelry. In addition to selling products the siblings design and create on their own, Trickster provides a platform for other Native artists to sell their work.
“Living in Juneau, and being that one of our top revenue items in Alaska is the tourist industry, we would walk around downtown Juneau and see all these gift shops that were selling knock-off Native art, culturally appropriated designs, or totem poles that were carved and replicated in Bollywood and shipped here from there and China and sold for two bucks…I think as a Native person that’s hard to look at and see your culture be taken advantage or your own story be taken away from you.
We see this as an opportunity to tell our own story. To create a platform for Native artists to be at the forefront of designing products and making cool athletic gear, streetwear, language books that are bilingual, learning tools, and fun stickers for young kids to put on their boards. To make it accessible, modern, fresh, and contemporary, but still true to Native design.”
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