Ferdinand & Sylvia Hooee

The following is an autobiography written by Ferdinand during his recent visit:

We are both full blood Zuni Pueblo tribe.. We are both from families that worked in the jewelry business. Sylvia's family did petit point style of work using turquoise and lapis settings. In our family, my mother Etta Lynn Laate was the silversmith and she was my teacher. She always told me when I started working on jewelry to make sure no cracks in stones, make sure silver is all soldered right and make sure they are clean. When we got together we started working on channel inlay, which is what my mother's work was. Putting our ideas together we create many different designs with natural stone settings and using only sterling silver and 14K gold.