About me
I am Jay “Jaybird/Tvssi” Jones, an Indigenous Designer from Seminole County, Georgia (named after our Seminole Ancestors) near the Gulf of Mexico, North America. My family is comprised of multiple tribes on both my maternal (Cherokee/Choctaw[Chahta]) and paternal (Seminole/Calusa) sides, originating from the Southeastern Woodlands Region of modern day North America. I named my company Small Hawk (Arvnwv) because it is an ode to the spirit animal associated with my past life/form and my current name of this life, Jaybird (Tvssi). Both words are of the Mvskogean Dialect, but are primarily Choctaw (Chahta) as it follows my maternal lineage of Choctaw(Chahta)/Cherokee Indian.
I was first introduced to woodworking by my father as he let me briefly help him build a deck for a house we lived in as a child. I didn’t necessarily run with it, but I absorbed the craft and implemented its thought process into my artwork growing up. Both my parents are extremely artistic, and I learned how to draw before I learned how to write my given name. Of course, I won every art contest I ever entered with the skills they passed on to me. Eventually I used those same skills to get a scholarship from both SCAD and Buick’s Achievers Award (Yes, the Car Company) to go to Savannah College of Art & Design (Class of 2018) in Savannah, GA where I currently reside.
Why am I doing this you may ask?
Through my journey of learning more about myself and heritage, I realized that I had a mission this life around. That mission is to remind me, my family, and my progeny who we are, and never forget it regardless of what others think or say. My maternal great-grandmother instilled in me everything I need in this life to restore the honor that we once had within our tribes and clans. I will use Small Hawk Foundation to complete that mission through telling our stories by way of furniture.
Moundville, Alabama Mound City, Home of Chief Tuscaloosa
Aerial image of the chief mound at moundville
About SMALL HAWK
Arvnwv stands for Small Hawk, an important cultural symbol for Mvskoke speaking peoples, with its beak pointing east to represent our ancestral path back home. The goal for this foundation is to remind our progeny the world over to remember their roots and actively participate in the role that remembrance plays in their lives.
Here, we specifically use indigenous architectural practices as inspiration for our contemporary furniture to create the seat in which the lifestyle is retained. We use that furniture to act as a reflection for the culture we all inhibit. It is more than a conversation piece, it is a way of life.
Small Hawk Foundation was originally established through our parent design company, notadesignstudio*. Eventually, Small Hawk Foundation was brought forward, to actively pursue our overall goal, which is to preserve the old ways and take our ancestry into the future.
Contact
General & Collaborations
Small Hawk Foundation
smallhawkfoundation@gmail.com
Custom Orders & Returns
Small Hawk Foundation Customer Support
smallhawkfoundation@gmail.com