Boho & Knots™ Founder, Artist &
Wellness Practitioner Background
Boho & Knots™ was founded by Shā’-nay Paris who is a
Canadian multidisciplinary macramé artist, educator,
and sensory wellness practitioner.
She was born and raised in Montréal and is currently based in the Great Lakes Region near Lake Ontario. She's a descendant of a ancestors from Atlantic Canada, particularly Nova Scotia by way of New Brunswick, with some ancestors also being from Quebec. In addition to having most of her family living in the Martimes,
she also has relatives in Québec, and ancestral lines in
Martinique -a territory of France.
With Boho & Knots™, Shā’-nay, uses textured and sensory engagement work as a tactile, regenerative, and somatic modality to make wellness more accessible. Using the art of macramé, which is a creative process inspired by the ancient technology of hand-made knots, she demonstrates
and guides practices that are culturally responsive
and proven to bring sustainable
{w]holistic wellness results.
Her work is especially helpful those who may require or look for alternative and complimentary approaches, than what's offered in common wellness spaces, to help them reach their wellbeing goals. This includes those from diverse and/or ethno-cultural groups tied to ancestral and traditional teachings that
sometimes are missing from mainstream frameworks.
Texture art helps to fill the gap.
This has been her experience and observation from her 25+ year professional background working in comprehensive
[w]holistic wellness areas - for youth, adults, and seniors.
As such, when Shā’-nay was led to explore and learn the art of macrame, she immediately noticed the benefits and
began to integrate it into her practice.
She also began to infuse elements of nature,
land-based activities, and STEM into her approach.
Through her sensory-friendly and engaging offerings, she
shares the many ways the textured art of macramé supports remembrance, reclamation, and restorative work.
Shā’-nay borrows from many healing and wellness teachings and ways-of-being from Indigenous cultures and communities mostly here in Canada. She's done extensive past work with the Friendship Centre Movement for several years — particularly working with the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg people and communities in Ontario. As well, she continues to receive teachings from close relatives and friends with ties to the Wabanaki Confederacy, particularly Mi'kmaq, as well as those from the Iron Confederacy such as the Cree and Métis.
As a native from Québec, mostly in Anglophone communities, Shā’-nay also grew up with grown up and worked in many ethno-culturally diverse communities, she also draws from related inspiration and influence as well. Her education background
is in Behavioral Health and Wellness with a
concentration in psychology and English.
With Boho & Knots™, Shā’-nay aims to offer a comprehensive, accessible, hands-on modality that's designed to promote sensory engagement, wellbeing, and creative expansion by using
eco-conscious and organic materials, meditative and
rhythmic patterns as medicine.
Her work is not a replacement or substitute for clinical or allopathic treatments or practices.
it's more a complimenting addition that
expands access to diverse ways to
achieve wellness goals.
In the process, tactile, oral, and visual storytelling and archiving become outcomes that serve as tangible keepsakes that
affirm each personal, collective, and intergenerational
journey of wellness, resilience, and growth.
In 2025, Shā’-nay launched her first collection of
Macramé Affirmation Dolls™ as a way to expand her offerings of macramé designs. In addition to the dolls, she also makes scalable wall hangings, mandalas, dreamcatchers and more through her collection called Stories and Symbols™.
The pieces she makes aren't crafts or just art, they're
tangible and embodies stories designed to show the beauty of diversity in all ways using eco-conscious and
sensory friendly fibers and materials to
honour the nature of being.