WHERE DOTŁ'IZHI BEGINS

Jewelry With Intent. Art With an Edge.

Life comes from the water that trickles down into the earth, leaving behind minerals in the empty spaces of the stone. Beauty comes from the color that is left behind. Strength is the result of resistance from where the stone was formed.

That philosophy has always felt like my own story.

I’m Alicia Velasquez, an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, designer, metalsmith, beadworker, and the woman behind DOTŁ'IZHI.

DOTŁ'IZHI was born from a need to create something that felt like me—bold, unconventional, deeply personal, and unapologetically its own.

My roots reach across the Sonoran Desert—through Apache and Yaqui ancestry and generations of Mexican heritage. I carry those roots with me, not as a label, but as part of the landscape that shaped me.

The name DOTŁ'IZHI comes from my Apache heritage and is connected to turquoise—a stone that has become deeply woven into my creative language. For me, turquoise is more than something beautiful to wear. It speaks to memory, strength, protection, and connection to the earth.

But DOTŁ'IZHI isn't about recreating the past.

It's about taking what has been carried forward and transforming it into something new.

Every piece is made by hand, one at a time, in my Arizona studio. I work with metals, natural stones, turquoise, beads, leather, and whatever else speaks to me along the way. Some pieces are quiet. Others refuse to be overlooked.

They are not meant to disappear into an outfit.

They are meant to become part of you.

DOTŁ'IZHI has evolved—from a brick-and-mortar gallery and creative community in Iowa City to a new chapter in the Arizona desert. The address changed. The work evolved. I did too.

What hasn't changed is the belief that art can hold memory, beauty can come from resistance, and the things we carry can become something powerful.

This is DOTŁ'IZHI.

Jewelry with intent.
Art with an edge.
Made for women who know their worth.