Native Jewelry Tells Stories

Not all stories are told with words.

Some, like this amazing piece, is a song with no melody or lyrics. This story is told in colors. In the way it inspires light to dance, and stirs something deep within.

“A song called Aurora. This song has no sound or notes, just a play of colors that encompass the wonders there are from day to night. She will allow you to play with that thought, and give you a near comparison.

Take for instance that Cerulean Blue that is for the day. As night comes slowly there is a moment between day and night when she becomes a wondrous play of colors twirling across the night sky."

- Larry Vasquez

I was handed that note years ago. Larry Vasquez gave it to me alongside a one of a kind necklace. A piece that subtly commands your attention - made with a quiet kind of care fueled by generations of passion and heritage.

He called it “Aurora”. Said it wasn’t just jewelry, it was a song of colors - a story you didn’t hear, but felt.

That stuck with me. See, authentic Native American jewelry is like that. It doesn’t have to shout. It doesn’t need gimmicky marketing or endorsements. It speaks through the work, through the materials, through the story carried in each cut, stamp, and solder.

Because real Native American jewelry isn’t just made,

it’s born of legend. Of ceremony. Of a relationship with the land and the people who’ve walked it since a time only remembered in story and tradition.

When a Tewa silversmith strings beads by hand, or a Pueblo artist lays turquoise according to a passed down method, they’re pulling from generations of love and artistry. It’s not just a necklace. It’s ancestry. It’s prayer. It’s heritage.That original Aurora necklace still lives in the Sunwest collection - not just as a piece of art, but as a reminder. A reminder that the truest stories don’t fade - they stay with us, waiting to be heard.

It rests among other pieces that speak the same unspoken language. Necklaces that hum with memory. Cuffs that echo the ancestors that inspired them. Rings that hold the rhythm of generations.

Each one, made by Native American hands.Each one a voice in the jewelry case chorus - some whispering like the ghostly light of dawn, others ringing out like sun on silver at high noon.

All of them, singing a story that the right owner will carry into their own songbook of life.