Hopi

Hopi silverwork is defined by the overlay technique: two layers of sterling silver, the upper sheet pierced with a design and soldered over a lower layer that is oxidised dark and often textured, so the motif reads as bright silver against shadow.

The style was refined into its modern form after the Second World War, when a silvercraft training programme on the Hopi mesas encouraged smiths to draw on distinctly Hopi iconography. Clouds, rain, migration spirals, bear paws, kachina figures, and water-serpent forms recur — each carrying meaning within Hopi life.

Stones are rare in Hopi work; the artistry lives in the line, the contrast, and the precision of the cut.