While throngs packed shopping malls elsewhere, folks inside the Las Vegas Paiutes' Health and Wellness Gymnasium sought to buy gifts of a different kind at the third annual Holiday Market and Toy Drive on December 13.
From hand-sewn skirts and Native graphic tees, to sterling silver jewelry with locally mined stones in them, the goods on hand displayed craftsmanship that’s been passed from generation-to-generation.
Shanithya Saltwater, a Navajo silversmith from the Monument Valley, learned how to make jewelry from her parents.
“This used to be a hobby thing,” Saltwater said. “I wouldn't be doing it full time, but now I do it full time and I'm having a fun time. Shoot, this is the best job I could ever have, to travel around, meet new people, make new friends.”
Saltwater’s mother taught her how to work a polishing machine in her early teen years. After learning to make studs, she started to learn the different techniques in silver smithing — and discovered her own aesthetic.
Saltwater’s pieces often have background stories based on the stone used in them, such as the one in her Navajo sterling silver necklace.
“The one I'm wearing on my neck here is a storyteller,” she said. “I hand cut it and then I soldered it together. So it's kind of like a shadow box kind of looking thing. And I have two turquoise on here, which is Kingman.”
To inspire the next pieces, Saltwater watches the next generation and how they are wearing their jewelry.
Both she and Roberta Tso, a Navajo seamstress, have seen an increase in demand for Native designs in the last five years. Tso makes skirts, dresses, and traditional wear in Mesa, Arizona. But she didn’t have a conventional start into her side gig.
“I've never sewed before, ever,” Tso said. “It started out during COVID. I was asked to make some face masks. I had an aunt who was selling a sewing machine and since my own family needed face masks, I decided to learn how, so kind of took off from there”
Her mother has a lot of granddaughters, and their adolescent-age ceremonies require traditional dress. Enter Tso and her newfound skill. Word got out among urban Natives, who began ordering garments, especially for graduation, but also for holidays like Mother’s Day. Those buyers included Indigenous youth. To Tso, it’s more than just a business.
“People are wanting to know about their culture again, and they want to be dressed up for it,” she said. “And it's nice to know that I live right there in town, that I'm able to offer traditional outfits if somebody needs it.”
The skirts Tso offers are vibrant in colors, which are symbolic. Those same colors are incorporated into the custom jewelry and art of Mack Quasula, a Hualapai Tribe member from Parker, Arizona.
He started selling at craft fairs two years ago, and has been learning from the elders about the business and where to source materials. But there are limitations Indigenous vendors face — namely events that are largely seasonal, sporadic, and spread-out.
“There's not very many places where we can showcase work like this, other than when we have holidays, bazaars for the majority of the time being,” Quasula said. “Everybody sells at powwows. That's where a lot of people can find homemade, hand-made stuff originally from actual Native American people who make those.”
Native American-owned businesses make up over one percent of all businesses nationwide, according to the U.S. Census. In Nevada, Indigenous business owners make up less than two percent of all businesses in the state, based on data from the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy.
Melissa Melero-Moose, an art curator in Northern Nevada, says that being a Native business owner is difficult.
“I think with Indigenous businesses and minority businesses, they are so under-represented for an array of reasons,” Melero-Moose said.
However, Nevada is one of the fifth best states for Native American business owners, according to B2B Review. There is a above-average density of Indigenous businesses within its population, compared to other states. Melero-Moose believes there’s room for improvement.
“I think that education of getting started, also dealing with taxes and funding resources and things, would be really useful,” she said.
To find more Native business owners, check local tribes websites or search keywords on social media.
MORE NEVADA INDIGENOUS-OWNED BUSINESSES:
Nuwu Art Gallery + Community Center
DesertHummingbird775 - Etsy
775TumbleweedTumblers - Etsy
@ToShineonCreations - Instagram
@Nuwuvi.beads - Instagram
Guests: Shanithya Saltwater, Navajo silversmith; Roberta Tso, Navajo seamstress; Mack Quasula, Hualapai craft artist
