Our creation story
COMMANDA: The maiden name of our maternal great grandmother. Our forever matriarch. Susan was a bead weaver and a woman who embodied resiliency.
COLLECTIVE: All of us. Those who heal.
Our beadwork journey was inspired by our grandmothers and their grandmothers before them. Our great Grandmother, Susan Espaniel (nee Commanda) was a beadwork artist who wove leather moccasins and mitts with mesmerizing patterns. We named our company after her to honour her art and her life.
To honour the resiliency of our ancestors, we create adornments as a gateway to healing. Our work is meant to exist as animate objects that invite you to engage in your own healing work.
Meet the makers
Three Sisters
We are three sisters—Madison, Taylor, and Montana—artists, storytellers, and the hands behind Commanda Collective.
Our beadwork is inspired by our great-grandmother, who passed her knowledge through generations. Beading is how we reclaim, remember, and reimagine. It’s a way for us to speak with our hands—back to our ancestors, and forward to the future.
We come from the Espaniel and Commanda families, with deep roots in Sagamok and Nipissing First Nations, and across the Robinson Huron Treaty territory. Our lineage carries both Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and Acadian ancestry through our mother’s side, and British/Scottish heritage through our father’s. Like many Indigenous families, our story includes complexity, erasure, and reclamation. We hold it all with care.
Each of us brings a different energy to the beads, but we share the same sense of purpose. For us, the beads are not just materials—they are animate. They hold memory, intention, and spirit. We believe the act of weaving opens a portal between generations.
Madison is currently based in Katarokwi (Kingston), on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Anishinaabe peoples. Taylor and Montana live on the unceded and occupied lands of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations—also known as Vancouver.
We bead because it brings us home to ourselves.
Taylor
Taylor is a storyteller and systems thinker who uses beadwork as one way to explore culture, memory, and possibility. She’s deeply curious about Indigenous futurism and how we can build better systems—ones rooted in care, connection, and imagination.
She’s usually the one behind the words at Commanda Collective, often holding the bigger picture while also obsessing over the details. Beading helps her slow down and reconnect to something older and wiser than words.
Outside of beadwork, Taylor loves to BBQ, talk astrology, and always carries a tarot deck—just in case. She’s always dreaming, questioning, and looking for ways to make space for something new to emerge.
Madison
Madison is the middle sister and often the steady hand behind the scenes. She has a quiet intuition, a deep love for design, and a lifelong fascination with mermaids. She’s an empath, a proud Scorpio, and usually the one keeping things balanced at the beading table.
Madison brings a sharp eye to everything Commanda Collective creates—from photographing new pieces to making sure every earring meets our standards before it leaves the studio. Outside of beadwork, she works full-time as a landscape designer, where her attention to form, texture, and place carries through in everything she does.
Her voice anchors this work, reminding us to slow down and honour the process.
Montana
Montana is the youngest of the three sisters and brings a bold, creative energy to the Collective. She started beading in 2021 on the loom, drawn to the meditative rhythm and the way beadwork holds emotion and intention.
With all three of her sun, moon, and rising signs in fire, Montana brings a spark to everything she touches—but water is part of her essence too. Her summers are spent hiking to glacial lakes, camping in the mountains, and reconnecting with the land.
Montana is also a creative writer, always exploring new ways to express the depth of what she feels. Whether through words, beads, or movement, she lets her emotions guide her art—and reminds the rest of us to stay connected to ours.