"From a pueblo not known for its jewelers comes a family creating a strong jewelry legacy. The heritage began 30 years ago with patriarch Andy Kirk, who studied biology at the University of New Mexico. Hoping for a hobby, he took an extracurricular jewelry course and immediately displayed great natural talent. Kirk made more money producing jewelry than anything he could do with biology so it became his vocation.
In the 1970s, the Santa Fe Indian Market had to create a new category when Kirk entered his gold jewelry in competition, instead of traditional silver. One of the first Native Americans to use gold, he has always been known for cutting-edge techniques and wants to maintain that reputation and pass it on to his descendants.
""By the time I was 12, Dad made me work in his studio, whether I wanted to or not,"" says daughter Melanie. At 13, she won her first award. At 17, Santa Fe Indian Market bestowed on her its most promising young artist award.
Under pressure getting ready for Indian Market one year, Melanie asked her boyfriend Michael Lente for help finishing her jewelry. Like her father, Lente demonstrated such natural talent that she encouraged him to make jewelry. Soon they both attended the Gemological Institute in Santa Monica, California, where they graduated with degrees in jewelry making and got married.
Today their company continues the family legacy as M&M Jewelers, often incorporating unanticipated stones like diamonds. The Kirk family wants to demonstrate to the uninformed that Native jewelry is often something totally unexpected. Made with fine workmanship and pride, Indian jewelry is labeled that because of the culture of its maker and an inherent spirituality that exists as part of all that he or she does."
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