At last week’s Santa Fe Indian Market , hundreds of Indigenous artists across North America set up shop in their outdoor booths, gathering at the annual fair to showcase and sell their new works—including jewelry, pottery, textiles, paintings, and more. The handmade pieces, ranging from turquoise rings to vibrant ribbon skirts, were a true display of beauty and craftsmanship. But few did Native luxury quite like the duo Sean Snyder and Adrian Matthias Stevens: This year, the Indigenous couple created a beaded “Birkin” bag that transformed a luxurious bag into, well, an even more luxurious bag.
Snyder and Stevens—a Two-Spirit couple who are both powwow dancers and artists, featured in Vogue here —are no strangers to the Santa Fe Indian Market, having shown at the event before. This year, however, the pair wanted to up the fashion ante, and opted to put an Indigenous twist on an exclusive handbag (which can go for upwards of $40,000). “I admire Hermès for their craftsmanship of the Birkin style bags, which inspired us to create our own,” Snyder tells Vogue .
“There is a legacy of Native people and their beaded medicine bags. As our culture has modernized, we see so many different styles of beadwork and appliqué bags showcased across Indian country.” To begin their design process, which took months, the duo began by first figuring out how to replicate a Birkin 25 bag (hence, “Birkin” being in quotations; It's a replica).
Snyder and Stevens wanted the .