Meet Geri James, a Navajo hatmaker who does it all out of her home studio in Gilbert.
"It started as a hobby. So I, I do have a regular 9 to 5 job as well. So when I get home at the end of the day, this is what I like to do. It's kind of my little sanctuary."
Her hats are traditional and ornate at the same time, often embroidered or decorated, finished with a ribbon, a feather and interesting lining. They're colorful, too, reflecting the colors of the desert we live in.
Her company is called Sleep Rock. And she said for for her, it all started there.
"For me, it resonates in the name Sleep Rock Company. It's who I am. So in our society, the Navajo or Dine, it's a matrilineal community. So we get everything from our mothers, who get everything from their mothers, and it's passed down through generations.
Her clan's name translates to "sleep rock."
" And I got that from my mom and she got that from her mom, and she got that so long down the line. And so a lot of my creativity, I credit a lot to my mom. And her mom, my grandmother, she does a lot of that too. She does a lot of jewelry. She makes blankets, she does sewing, pretty much anything," she said. "So I credit a lot of where my creativity comes from, from them. And, you know, a lot of how I was raised and who I am now is because of my family. So I wanted that to reflect through Sleep Rock Company."
But why hats? It's not an easy craft, after all. This is a complicated process.
"No, my, my mom's sitting over here ... she's smiling at me because, you know, it's kind of her fault I got into this," she said.
"So she again, you know, she wears a lot of hats — both literally and figuratively ... And she loves to style everything that she has and make it very personal. And more than a few years ago, she started picking up hats either at thrift stores or, you know, going to target or, or anywhere and just finding hats. But she was putting her own flair to it. And I jokingly said one day, 'Well, I'm gonna learn how to make hats, you know, because you, you have all these hats here, but none of them are really your style. You can't find that one. We have to go everywhere to find it.' So, what I wanted to do was learn the process. I'm really into finding how things work and going back to the beginning. And I feel like if you want something very personal, you kind of have to do it yourself. So that's kind of how it all started."
