Jewelry
There are so many jewelry stores and artisan jewelers and turquoise markets and silver craft vendors in Santa Fe that it's actually hard to shop here. After I eliminate the high end stores and the hunky chunky turquoise boulder baubles that are just way too big for me to wear, I'm still overwhelmed.
I bought a small vintage oxidized silver and turquoise watch at one of the stores on the plaza, but it's so touristy there and the selections are so vast and redundant, and so overpriced, that I probably wouldn't shop there again. I did negotiate a discount on it, though.
But I do have two places now where I like to shop for jewelry. One is Peyote Bird Designs, which has a workshop in a business center near the hospital, far from the plaza and unknown to tourists. Peyote Bird is a collective of designers who sell wholesale to stores here and around the country.
They don't have a retail store, but they open the workshop on some weekends and the items are steeply discounted and I really like what they have. Years ago in Connecticut I bought a Chili Rose beaded watch (one of their design lines) and I loved it. When it needed repair recently, I took it in to the Peyote Bird workshop and they were wonderful to work with to get it repaired.
The second place I go to for jewelry is actually pretty touristy. It's the Native American market that sets up every day under the front portal of the Palace of the Governors on the plaza.
At first I thought it was mostly trinkets. The informal nature of it, where sellers set up their wares on a blanket on the floor of the porch, reinforced that to me. The sellers sit in lawn chairs and you have to kneel on the floor to see what is for sale. There is not much variety, much of the jewelry looks the same.
But the items are very nice, and conversations with the artisans are wonderfully friendly and informative -- while much of the jewelry looks similar, the story of each tribe's particular take on a design is full of pride and particulars of family clan. I've bought gifts there and each one has been lovely, with personal histories of the item attached.
This open air market has been going on since the 1930s. There are strict standards of materials and quality each vendor has to follow in order to sell there. Many different tribes compete for vendor space and sales, and the fact that so many have put aside cultural, language, spiritual and historical differences for 80 years to cooperate to stage this market is remarkable.
So those are the two places where it's not so overwhelming for me to find jewelry pieces in Santa Fe. I've been on a bit of a mission to add more interesting jewelry to my wardrobe, partly because it's long overdue now that I'm retired, and partly because my adult son commented a while ago "Mom, don't you have more western looking earrings to wear, like what Becky wears?"
The fact that he a) noticed my earrings and b) noticed my friend Becky's too, and c) had an opinion on them, floored me.
Gradually I have added a few new items to my jewelry since moving to New Mexico. Once I figured out where to go to shop without being overrun by tourists and prices and sheer volumes, it's been fun.
I really hope my son notices my new earrings.
I bought a small vintage oxidized silver and turquoise watch at one of the stores on the plaza, but it's so touristy there and the selections are so vast and redundant, and so overpriced, that I probably wouldn't shop there again. I did negotiate a discount on it, though.
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| The band and the face are replacement, but the turquoise studded side pieces are vintage. |
But I do have two places now where I like to shop for jewelry. One is Peyote Bird Designs, which has a workshop in a business center near the hospital, far from the plaza and unknown to tourists. Peyote Bird is a collective of designers who sell wholesale to stores here and around the country.
 |
| Wholesale workshop near us. There is no retail store. |
They don't have a retail store, but they open the workshop on some weekends and the items are steeply discounted and I really like what they have. Years ago in Connecticut I bought a Chili Rose beaded watch (one of their design lines) and I loved it. When it needed repair recently, I took it in to the Peyote Bird workshop and they were wonderful to work with to get it repaired.
 |
| Oooh, I want this. The baby . . . but the bracelets too. From Peyote Bird's facebook page. |
The second place I go to for jewelry is actually pretty touristy. It's the Native American market that sets up every day under the front portal of the Palace of the Governors on the plaza.
At first I thought it was mostly trinkets. The informal nature of it, where sellers set up their wares on a blanket on the floor of the porch, reinforced that to me. The sellers sit in lawn chairs and you have to kneel on the floor to see what is for sale. There is not much variety, much of the jewelry looks the same.
But the items are very nice, and conversations with the artisans are wonderfully friendly and informative -- while much of the jewelry looks similar, the story of each tribe's particular take on a design is full of pride and particulars of family clan. I've bought gifts there and each one has been lovely, with personal histories of the item attached.
 |
| Busy Indian market under the portal at the Palace of the Governors |
This open air market has been going on since the 1930s. There are strict standards of materials and quality each vendor has to follow in order to sell there. Many different tribes compete for vendor space and sales, and the fact that so many have put aside cultural, language, spiritual and historical differences for 80 years to cooperate to stage this market is remarkable.
So those are the two places where it's not so overwhelming for me to find jewelry pieces in Santa Fe. I've been on a bit of a mission to add more interesting jewelry to my wardrobe, partly because it's long overdue now that I'm retired, and partly because my adult son commented a while ago "Mom, don't you have more western looking earrings to wear, like what Becky wears?"
The fact that he a) noticed my earrings and b) noticed my friend Becky's too, and c) had an opinion on them, floored me.
 |
| A colorful beaded leather wrap bracelet that I wear a lot now. My friend Becky hand made one of these for each of the women who gathered in Santa Fe this past August. |
Gradually I have added a few new items to my jewelry since moving to New Mexico. Once I figured out where to go to shop without being overrun by tourists and prices and sheer volumes, it's been fun.
I really hope my son notices my new earrings.
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