We recently connected with Jordan Fiegehen and have shared our conversation below.
Jordan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I began my beading journey in January 2022 with zero crafting skills and a need to do something with my hands. My community is Batchewana First Nation, which is nearly six hours away from where I currently live, and with covid restrictions still in place, I wasn’t able to learn easily from any of our Elders. I really wanted to make sure the people I learned from were Indigenous, and I watched many tutorials on YouTube and TikTok.
In my research, I found one of my greatest resources. Malinda Joy Gray’s published thesis, “Beads: Symbols of Indigenous Cultural Resilience and Value”. It helped me understand the history of beadwork, and shaped my approach to it. After much trial and error, and to the surprise of my family, I completed my first pair of earrings, my black bears, in February 2022, and have since been looking for ways to improve my skill, and make my ancestors proud.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am an Indigenous Beader, specializing in beaded fringe earrings. I work with seed beads, which are tiny glass beads, and I’m very grateful my eyesight is still going strong. I create designs for people to buy, but also for them to customize.
I love working with clients, picking out just the right pinks or purples to go with their personality. I have a very wide range of colours, and I love seeing what combination a client will choose. One of my favourite customizations was a pair of custom bear earrings, where they wanted a brown bear, with a pink nose, and solid orange fringe because their daughter’s university mascot was a bear and the school colour was orange. Having only done a white fringe with that design before, I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first, but we both loved how they turned out, and I now create orange fringe bears for National Truth and Reconciliation Day in September.
My goal is to provide everyone with a little bit of sparkle to their life with my beadwork, whether that’s a literal sparkle or a smile when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the reflection of a passing window.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I’ve had orders come in across Canada, and the United States, and even Spain, and seeing how happy people are when they tag me on Instagram, or TikTok is especially rewarding. One of my fondest memories from 2023 was a handmade ‘thank you’ card from a client out in Alberta who bought polar bear earrings, and told me how excited she was to take her bears out on adventures.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I owe a lot to Indigenous TikTok creators. @artbybreannadeis was my first teacher of brick stitch and fringe work. Some of my first steps into my reconnection and entrepreneurial journey were made by watching @the_language, who does a series on TikTok where he has an Ojibwe word of the day, and also traditional teachings.
I can’t speak highly enough about Malinda Joy Gray’s published thesis, “Beads: Symbols of Indigenous Cultural Resilience and Value”. The teaching that every bead is a prayer and thus “The therapy and prayer found in beadwork is de-colonizing Indigenous artists one bead at a time.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beadworkbyjordy.etsy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beadworkbyjordy/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@beadworkbyjordy