Piece of the Week: Ironhorse Quillwork Earrings

The 31st annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards took place on Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles where stars were recognized by their union.

Lily Gladstone, Native American actress, writer, and producer best known for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” was one of the actors nominated for a SAG Award. They were nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series for Hulu mini-series “Under the Bridge.”

Gladstone walked the red carpet in a bespoke look from their dress to their jewelry.
Their “Porcupine Quilled 3-Band” earrings are by Indigenous craftsman and designer Joe Big Mountain of Ironhorse Quillwork and were created specifically for this look.

The drop-style earrings use about 500 porcupine quills with accents of 24-karat gold-plated beads.

The piece is then backed with smoked deer hide, outlined by black glass beads (which are the same as the one

s used in her dress), and attached to 14-karat gold-plated kidney ear wires.

Gladstone’s dress is a collaboration between Ironhorse Quillwork and Gucci. The dress was first seen on the actor when they attended Vanity Fair’s Oscars afterparty in March of 2024.

Big Mountain created these earrings at that time to match the colors and motif of the circular quillwork adornments on the beaded dress. Although, last year, she opted to style the dress with a Bulgari necklace and simple diamond studs.
Ironhorse Quillwork earrings and Gucci also designed the dress she wore to the Oscars red carpet last year.

“Joe Big Mountain does one of the oldest forms of art from this continent—quillwork,” said Gladstone in an interview with TikTok star Drew Afualo for InStyle.

Gladstone continued, “So, porcupine quills [are] what the adornment is,” describing their custom dress.

Big Mountain explained to National Jeweler, “Porcupine quillwork itself is based on the fact that a porcupine is a defense animal, so the belief is that when you’re adorned with quillwork it gives you that protection.”

All credits for this news belong to nationaljeweler.com