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

This nine-book series is a government-sponsored illustrated publication documenting Indigenous crafts and material culture, reflecting 1970s Canadian approaches to cultural preservation and public education. Designed by Eiko Emori in 1975 for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and printed by Information Canada, it formed part of a broader federal effort to inventory and record what were framed as “traditional” practices. Notably, the series consistently uses the term craft rather than art — an important distinction that reflects prevailing attitudes toward Indigenous cultural production at the time. Each fascicule 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visual approach is directly connected to her earlier work in Japanese children’s publishing, where she helped transform outdated, dense, multi-volume series into cohesive, inviting systems that raised the standard and quality of the field.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 in the UK and shaped by international modernism — through teachers such as Collin Forbes at the Central School of Art and Design, and later Alvin Eisenman and his circle of modernist educators at Yale’s pioneering graphic design program — she brought a perspective uncommon in outdated institutional design contexts. Emori often contrasted this outlook with what she described as “captured” in-house designers working within closed bureaucratic systems. This experience translated naturally to government publishing, a domain similarly prone to visual inertia. Across her work, she applied a refined modernist sensibility and a deep belief in the transformative power of books, rooted in her own childhood experience.

Viewed in this light, 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.