It is with great humility and respect that Vanessa Ægirsdottir practices the art of jewelry making for Wild Yukon Fur of Skagway.

Ægirsdottir, whose name is pronounced "eye-yurs-daughter, treats every piece she creates with the kind of modesty befitting the appropriate respect due to the materials she uses to make unique, even spiritually inspiring fur jewelry.

When you purchase a piece from Wild Yukon Fur, you’re not just buying a piece of jewelry that doubles as art; you’re getting a part of Ægirsdottir and the animal whose fur is used to conceive almost every piece she sells.

Before you jump to any conclusions about the use of fur in her jewelry, hear her out. Her story does not involve just fur, but the spirituality of all living things and the connection to fur trapping in the indigenous community.

"One of the things I learned was the vital importance of your state of mind,” she said. "You are literally weaving yourself into that work. You have to work in the best possible state of mind. It’s the responsibility of the maker to make sure it doesn’t bring unhappiness or stress.”

"We want people to see fur in a different way, and that’s a big responsibility. It’s more than just a commodity. It has a spirit. When you wear a piece of animal product, you are forever in a relationship with that animal. There’s a spirit in everything, and we have a responsibility to harvest these animals in a good way.”

Ægirsdottir also points out that the animals are harvested humanely by indigenous trappers whose lives depend on the fur market. That’s part of the relationship making up her art. She added that "staggering poverty” among indigenous people makes her jewelry all the more important.

"When people wear an item, they’re saying to the world that they support furs and indigenous people,” she said. "Trappers, indigenous trappers, aren’t trapping because they want to post on Instagram; they’re doing it because their ancestors, their grandparents, involved them in trapping. For so long, fur trapping has not been profitable. We try to do good for the community and give the trappers as much money as possible. We want to share wealth. I would rather achieve success and share it with the people who got us there.”

She views herself as a bridge between the white settler community and indigenous peoples on whose land Ægirsdottir plies her craft in her Yukon studio.  

The Wild Yukon Furs describes itself as an "Indigenous-owned business providing finished goods handcrafted from Indigenous-sourced furs from around the territory. We make 100% of our products by hand in the Yukon and are often doing so onsite.”  

Ægirsdottir’s jewelry is a fantastic array of eye-popping signature jewelry that includes everything from beaded gemstone jewelry to handspun yarn, hand-woven textiles, and a variety of handcrafted delights, all designed and produced with infinite respect for the materials. She also weaves comfy blankets and uses fish leather in some of her items.

You can even buy an entire pelt if you so desire.

Ægirsdottir said it’s hard to pin down her favorite jewelry, but she said fur, especially wolverine fur, is a popular choice.

"Fur is what we’re known for, and it’s the most popular,” she said. "We make giant hoop earrings, some as large as nine inches in diameter, but they’re lightweight. But the most popular is wolverine fur. I often tell people about the human characteristics of fur. I anthropomorphize because you have a relationship with the animal. I feel as though wolverines represent fierceness and independence.”

But there’s more to all this than just making jewelry.

"We want people to be humbler and learn,” she said. "We want people to be curious and to learn.”

The Skagway store is, she said, "like nothing else on Broadway. We have cedar shelves. It even smells different. But we want our customers to remember Skagway’s history, well before the gold rush, to ask questions about Skagway’s history from the point of view of an indigenous person.”

Ægirsdottir, whose husband George Ya’an Dahkin Yeil (Flying Raven) runs the Skagway store, is more than happy to answer those questions.

"I am a white person married to an indigenous man,” she said. "I’m totally comfortable with being uncomfortable because what I experience is only a fraction of the systemic racism my indigenous friends and loved ones experience every day. I’m fully aware that I need to be ok with feeling hurt and rejected and feeling uncomfortable. That was the most profound experience for me.”

But whatever art she produces, she makes it with an understanding of the relationship indigenous people have with the land as well as the fur. 

"I’m living and working on someone else’s property, and it’s my duty to respect and honor that,” she said.