Hi! I'm April Meeker, the one woman show behind Secondsister. All my jewelry is hand forged in San Diego, California. My love affair with Southwestern jewelry started 25 years ago. Over the years I have slowly gravitated to the more traditional Navajo pieces. I am fascinated by the jewelry made by the very first Navajo silversmiths who had very limited tools and poor work conditions, and yet produced stunning pieces of intricate jewelry. Many of my designs are based on the very early pieces made by these master Navajo artists.

In my workshop, I try to follow this old school tradition as much as possible. I'm not working on a dirt floor with a coal fire and bellows but I am heating the metal in a modern forge and hammering it out by hand. I don't buy turquoise in bulk.  Each piece is individually selected for it's beauty. 

My husband, Ben, is a hobby blacksmith. On occasion he will forge out some silver for me or make me a steel tool. We enjoy working side by side. We have three great kids, Thomas, Amelie and Henry, a hound dog named Finnigan and a quarter horse name Johnny Utah.

"I do not believe that any man can adequately appreciate the world of to-day unless he has some knowledge of -- a little more than a slight knowledge, some feeling for and of -- the history of the world of the past." -Theodore Roosevelt