Fine Navajo jewelry
Desert Tile Necklace
From $687.50/month, or 4 payments with eligible providers.
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Story
Turquoise cabochons are arranged in a bold tile-like formation, accented with diamonds and set in 14K yellow gold for a sculptural, dimensional finish. The Desert Tile Necklace is inspired by desert landscapes, ancestral adornment, and the beauty of stones gathered into pattern, memory, and light.
Rooted in my North African and Native heritage, my work is shaped by desert landscapes, ancestral memory, and the belief that jewelry can carry both beauty and meaning. Each piece is designed to feel timeless, personal, and grounded in the natural world.
Specs
Stone details:
0.18 CTW
G-H color
VS1 clarity
Dimensions:
20 mm W
20 mm L
Fit
Designed for everyday comfort and easy layering.
Materials
Sleeping Beauty turquoise
14K yellow gold
Diamonds
About the Artist
Mia Zaara Hamdouni is a jewelry designer whose work is rooted in heritage, craftsmanship, and contemporary elegance. A registered member of the Navajo Nation and of Tunisian descent, her designs reflect a deep connection to Indigenous traditions, Mediterranean influences, and desert landscapes.
Her lineage is central to her practice.
Her great-grandfather was a celebrated Navajo community leader, medicine man, and silversmith, grounding her work in generations of cultural knowledge and craftsmanship. She learned the foundations of jewelry design from her mother, herself a jewelry designer, and from her uncle, a respected turquoise expert, shaping her deep understanding of materials, technique, and tradition.
"I grew up sitting on the floor and watching my mom make jewelry and run her jewelry shop in downtown Santa Fe," says Hamdouni. "I grew up in this business, so being exposed to all of that really gave me an eye for well-designed pieces that come out of that tradition. I don't make jewelry for men. My line is feminine and designed for specific types of women who are looking for elegant fine jewelry."
- Mia Zaara Hamdouni
Hamdouni's jewelry is imbued with a feminine aesthetic that favors elegant pieces for everyday wear rather than loud statement jewelry. This sensibility is also reflected in her use of diamonds and gold, two materials not traditionally associated with American Indian jewelry. Her work draws not only from her Native background and family connections to Native art and design, but also from her Tunisian heritage, where she was exposed to mosaics and other hallmarks of Mediterranean life and culture.
These artistic and cultural influences, woven together, recall a rare and historic cross-cultural lineage in Southwestern jewelry, one not seen since Algerian-born jeweler Evelie Sabatie left Morocco in the late 1960s and moved to Hotevilla on Hopi Third Mesa to apprentice with legendary Hopi jeweler Charles Loloma.