Dan Wade is a talented jeweller born in Frobisher Bay, near Iqaluit, NU. Wade was inspired by the carvers in his family to pursue the arts and take up jewellery. Originally wanting to be a carver [1] the local college only offered a jewellery and metalwork class with carving at the end. Completing the Jewellery and Metalwork program at Nunavut Arctic College in 2005 Wade sources his materials from hunters, family, friends and people on Facebook [2].
Working from Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit with two other jewellers from 2010 to 2018, Wade is a full-time jeweller and sells his jewellery online, at festivals and directly from his studio. Wade is most famous for his Northern Lights ring, which are offered in silver, gold and rose gold and are a single undulating band with gentle grooves. The ring is cast in two designs one with two points meeting and the other with a circular design. The rings were inspired by nature and the northern lights recalling a river in the sky [3] and have been featured in the magazine Up Here’s fashion editorial. Inspired by the land of Nunavut, Wade works with a variety of materials, his favourite being silver and ivory while also working with gold, copper, brass and natural materials found in Nunavut such as muskox horn, polar bear claws, antler and baleen.
Wade’s collections feature a coming together of natural and humorous elements, with his “ulukpik” collection, a mixture of ulu (woman’s knife) and ookpik (snow owl). Wade has won the Nunavut Arts Branding Award from The Song Tree, for Arts and Promotion, in 2012. A member of the Nunavut Arts and Craft Association he is a registered member of the Authentic Nunavut Brand. Wade is currently based and working out of Whitby, ON.