"Passe-temps et articles pour enfants," No.9 of a nine-fascicule series documenting Plains Cree and Chippewa crafts 

A nine-book government-sponsored series documenting Indigenous crafts and material culture. 

Designed by Eiko Emori in 1975 for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, this series gives you direct insight into Canadas approach to cultural preservation and public education at the time. It formed part of a broader federal effort to inventory and record what were framed as “traditional” practices. These traditional practices were considered "craft" rather than "art" — an important distinction that reflects prevailing attitudes toward Indigenous cultural production at the time. 

Each part of the series focuses on a specific theme — such as tools, clothing, transport, children’s items, or ceremonial objects — using photography and black-and-white illustration with minimal text to emphasize visual clarity and accessibility.

Emori’s visual approach is directly connected to her earlier work in Japanese children’s publishing, where she helped transform outdated, dense, multi-volume series into cohesive, inviting systems that raised the standard and quality of the field. Educated at Central School of Art and Design in the UK, and at Yale in the US, Eiko Emori brought a perspective uncommon in outdated institutional design contexts. A funny thing she said to me was how she described government in-house designers as “captured designers" 😂 — designers who worked within closed government systems, and who were sort of tied down by bureaucracy. 

Artisanat, Cris des Plaines et Chippewas can be understood not only as a federal documentation project, but also as an extension of Emori’s lifelong commitment to clarity, pedagogy, elevating indigenous language/visual culture, and book design as a vehicle for cultural transmission, reframed through a Canadian governmental lens.
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Artisanat, Cris des Plaines et Chippewas — Crafts of the Plains Cree and Chippewa.

1. Objets de cérémonie — Ceremonial Objects
2. Accessoires de cérémonie — Ceremonial Accessories
3. Vêtements — Clothing
4. Ustensiles de cuisine et de rangement — Kitchen and Storage Utensils
5. Articles de cuisine et de ménage — Kitchen and Household Items
6. Ustensiles de cuisine en bois — Wooden Kitchen Utensils
7. Outils et armes — Tools and Weapons
8. Transport — Transportation
9. Passe-temps et articles pour enfants — Hobbies and Children’s Items 

(6 to 48 pages per booklet)

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Citations:

Cover; Artisanat, Cris des Plaines et Chippewas, no. 9 (Passe-temps et articles pour enfants), designed by Eiko Emori. Ottawa, Information Canada, 1975. Part of a nine-fascicule series documenting Plains Cree and Chippewa crafts.

Image source; AbeBooks listing for Artisanat, Cris des Plaines et Chippewas. Original URL: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=12144870680&searchurl=cty%3Dca%26kn%3DEiko%2BEmori%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image1
. Archived via the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine): https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=12144870680&searchurl=cty%3Dca%26kn%3DEiko%2BEmori%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image1.