North By Design
About Us



North By Design is the creation of Adele Poynter, a Newfoundlander who has lived and worked in other special places like New Zealand, Ireland, Saint-Pierre et Miquelon and Japan. She has been back home for twenty years, and has a young family firmly rooted on 'the Rock'. North By Design is a perfect marriage of her interest in economic development and marketing.

Adele serves on various boards including the Nature Conservancy of Canada and has served as Chair for 13 years for the Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador.
North by Design and Raleigh: A Partnership

The Raleigh Historical Corporation, led by Noah Smith, has been a leader in developing employment and training initiatives in Raleigh, a small, isolated community on the north coast of Newfoundland. In 2005 , Noah Smith, and his wife, Bernitt, felt that mat making offered potential as an employment opportunity. Mat making had been an important activity in the area, particularly in the time of Sir Wilfred Grenfell in the early 1900s. Raleigh Historical, along with October Hill, a private foundation based in the United States, partnered with North by Design to bring this project to reality.

In 2005, with the support of the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, twelve women were trained in mat hooking techniques. Designers were enlisted to develop some fresh contemporary patterns; today we are producing high quality mats. We currently have five women employed in Raleigh, and six more in training. They range in age from 21 to 60. All of them were fish plant workers in the days when fish were more plentiful and have now turned their hands, and skills, to mat making.