About South Wind Design...

Welcome! I'm Becky, the artist behind South Wind Design. 

I'm so glad you stopped by.

People often ask me how South Wind Design began, but the truth is, it's hard to point to a single moment. Creativity has always been part of my life.

My mom and grandma were the first to place that spark in me. They taught me to appreciate handmade things, to see possibility in secondhand treasures, and to know that if you want something badly enough, you could probably figure out how to make it yourself. Those lessons shaped far more than my creativity—they shaped the way I move through the world.

Over the years, I've explored all kinds of creative pursuits.  But beadwork was the one that truly captured my heart.

I began as a traditional beadworker, using techniques that emphasized patience, precision, texture, and flow that I learned through embroidery as a child. As my confidence grew, curiosity took over. I started experimenting, making mistakes, taking pieces apart, and trying again. Nearly everything you see in my collection today was learned through countless hours of trial and error. While my work has evolved into contemporary jewelry, those traditional techniques continue to influence every design I create.

South Wind Design has been woven through many chapters of my life. It helped support me while I earned my bachelor's degree and teaching credential. It stayed with me through years in the classroom teaching history. When life unexpectedly changed direction—including a cancer diagnosis shortly after being laid off during a difficult period of budget cuts—South Wind Design became more than a creative outlet. It became a source of hope, purpose, and resilience.

I've always believed that difficult seasons don't have to define us. Sometimes they simply lead us to a path we never imagined taking.

One of the greatest gifts this journey has given me is the opportunity to give back. As both an educator and beadworker, I've been fortunate to work with Native students and families through youth programs in my community, sharing beadworking skills, encouraging creativity, and supporting the next generation. Watching students discover pride in creating something with their own hands has been every bit as rewarding as creating jewelry myself.

When you purchase from South Wind Design, you're supporting much more than a small business.

You're supporting a woman-owned studio where every piece is designed and handcrafted one bead at a time. You're supporting an artist who seeks out fair-trade, vintage, and recycled materials whenever possible and continually works toward making more of my own components by hand. And you're helping create the flexibility that allows me to continue giving back through community and youth programs.

After many wonderful years selling online on Etsy, I decided it was time for South Wind Design to have a home of its own. This website is the next chapter of that journey—a place where I can share not only my jewelry, but also the stories, inspiration, and process behind each piece.

But why South Wind Design?

As a mixed Native woman educator and beader of Yaqui, Mayo, and Mexican heritage, I wanted to create a space where all of those parts of my identity could exist together. While beadwork is not a traditional art form of the Yaqui or Mayo peoples, who both originate from Sonora, Mexico, my work has always been inspired by the creativity, resilience, and beauty that have shaped my family and my communities.

South Wind Design captures the vibrance of bass-filled urban dwellings and the humble warmth of Indian country's open stretches.  It is a place that transcends borders—between nations, between tradition and contemporary life, between ceremony and academia, & between community gatherings and boardroom meetings. I create jewelry for relatives who move comfortably through all of those worlds, carrying their stories with them wherever they go.

My mom and grandma taught me that handmade crafts carry a little piece of the person who created them.  I hope when you wear one of my pieces, you feel that connection.

Thank you for being here and for supporting handmade work. It truly means the world to me.

~ Becky