Mitchell Riley
Mitchell Riley
Chippewas of the Thames First Nation
My name is Mitchell A. Riley, I am from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation located in South Western Ontario. I am an Indigenous artist and leatherworker. I specialize in a certain type of leatherwork that is uncommon to the pow wow trail.

My hands carve original leather designs into vegetable tan leather, as well as specialize in a unique style of regalia belts using what I know about designing floral style beadwork and applying it to the leather carvings. My background is Ojibwe and I grew up on the reserve learning a lot about crafts from my Grandfather at a very young age. In 2015, I started to get back into the craft work and travel the pow wow trail. In recent years, I have expanded my crafting knowledge to include traditional and modern leatherwork. I hope to one day travel to a leather studio in Toronto to learn how to make leather shoes and boots from other leather professionals in the shoe industry.