Young turquoise silversmith revamps trading post shop on Eastside

26-year-old Casey Sohoel-Smith, a turquoise silversmith is bringing more Southwestern and Native American silver and turquoise jewelry to the Eastside. His shop, Tanque Verde Turquoise , was remodeled after being open for less than a year.

Turquoise is rare and expensive and was mined in Bisbee many years ago. It's also the official gemstone of Arizona .

Sohoel-Smith says his silversmith journey began almost 10 years ago with beadwork. His mentor, Sam Patania, introduced him to basics of silverwork and stonework. After learning the trade, he started to add his twist to it.

“Being able to make wearable art and have somebody appreciate it every day, that’s pretty cool," said Sohoel-Smith.

Sohoel-Smith tells me he isn't Native American, but has a deep connection to the culture. He says it's important for him to recognize and honor the people who did this before him with everything he makes.

“If you’re gonna be working in this kind of field to recognize and honor the people who did this before you and are doing it and to pay homage to that is kind of important," said Sohoel-Smith.

Having a traditional trading post has been his goal, allowing other local artists to sell their goods at his shop.

“If I solely was doing the jewelry end of things," said Sohoel-Smith. "It probably wouldn’t survive so like that’s also part of the reason of having a trading post is kind of cool ‘cause it rounds everything together, right? You have other artists that fill that niche that I can’t appeal to.”

Tanque Verde Turquoise opened last December, but business picked up fast and needed to expand.

“Being able to, you know, maximize the smaller space that we have here to really be able to benefit everybody who’s an artist.”

Casey grew up seeing how artsy downtown Tucson is and wanted to bring that to the East.

“The biggest thing I remember was moving out here was there’s really not a whole bunch of that and I thought that’s okay but I feel like we need more," said Sohoel-Smith.

Casey says his artwork helps him form close connections with the community.