Weaving Indigenous Stories into the Toronto Maple Leafs

Element Award — Logo/Wordmark

Design de Plume

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Weaving Indigenous Stories into the Toronto Maple Leafs reimagined the team’s iconic crest ahead of the Indigenous Celebration Game on January 11, 2025. The Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club partnered with Design de Plume, an Indigenous-owned and women-led agency, to embed authentic Indigenous symbolism into the crest while maintaining its recognizable silhouette and wordmark. The project aimed to honour Indigenous teachings, amplify visibility and create a meaningful cultural dialogue.

Design de Plume incorporated elements such as strawberries, sweetgrass, cedar, dreamcatchers and turtle motifs, each representing love, protection, guidance and clan identity. The storytelling extended to the player jerseys, with iconography integrated into each number to communicate intergenerational knowledge and ancestral connection. Every visual choice was grounded in cultural continuity, narrative depth and educational impact.

The redesigned crest and jerseys were widely embraced, selling out quickly and raising over $60,000 for the ENAGB Indigenous Youth Agency. Beyond these metrics, the project elevated Indigenous voices on a national stage, sparking dialogue, learning and a deeper appreciation for living cultural traditions within mainstream sport.