Photograph by Craig McDean, supplied by Jennifer Younger.

THE ART OF NATURE

Jennifer Younger Designs. It takes a village which then becomes a community.

Tlingit artist Jennifer Younger is from the Southeast Alaskan town of Yakutat of the Eagle Kaagwaantaan, where she was surrounded by nature and traditional ways of life. For her, it is all about community.

It's clear that she enjoys collaborating with others and often part of her reason is to lift others up. She is generous and with a heart of gold she often supports difficult to adopt dogs at the local shelters by sharing their stories on Instagram. Her work is also the embodiment of her free spirit and fluid style.

A collaboration REZ13 and Jennifer Younger

When spring arrives in the Okanagan Valley, REZ13 and Younger will be doing a collaborative photoshoot to highlight Jennifer’s prized jewelry.

Everything that Jennifer has produced in the past is shaped and inspired by nature, for example, she has earrings based on salmon, eggs and herring eggs which while that doesn't sound sexy, the end result always is! These are masterful little sculptures that draw you to them. Check out Jennifer Younger’s Instagram gallery for more of her work.

Jennifer Younger Design

Jennifer is a multi-award winning copper and silver jewelry designer. Her goal is to have her work in all parts of the world and she is keen to see non-Native celebrities and everyday fashionistas embracing Native design. Jennifer is sensitive to the fact that even though there is an Indigenous uprising, Indigenous people are still being kept in their own box. She wants to change that.

Jennifer is reaching out to stylists to say that her work is Native-made for everyone so if they have people that they want to accessorize with her jewelry, she’s game as she feels that's really showing true appreciation for the art form.

Looking forward with the best of the past

“Looking back takes me forward.” Younger, who is of the Eagle Kaagwaantaan clan and now lives in Sitka, Alaska, looks to Tlingit form-line designs and spruce-root basket weaving patterns to inform her freehand pieces, each of which are totally unique.

Younger didn’t grow up immersed in her Tlingit culture, because her grandmother experienced abusive and oppressive assimilation policies at an Indian boarding school, an all-too-common phenomenon in Native communities. In 2012, the Sitka, Alaska carver decided to take up the art of formline design to better connect to her heritage, learning from father-and-son artisans Dave and Nicholas Galanin.

Since then, Younger has made a name for herself—one of her pinnacle moments was when her work was on the cover of British Vogue—thanks to her intricately carved cuffs, earrings, necklaces, and body chains made of silver, gold, and copper with abalone, turquoise, and other earthly accents. Although this type of design is typically used to display Tlingit clan crests, Younger has branched out to broader themes like butterflies and hummingbirds.

“I want to introduce formline to people who aren’t familiar with Northwest Coast designs,” she says. “I have some special pieces that belonged to my grandmother, but I want the next generation to take pride in their heritage and carry on this form, so I create more contemporary pieces for everyday wear.”

Photographs supplied by Jennifer Younger Design