West Texas designer's jewelry, hats appear on 'Yellowstone,' musicians; here's her story
Alana Edgin, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
5 min read
Cassandra Coronado Everett
Surrounded by metals, stones and fabric, an artist combines rugged and refined elements into the jewelry and hats. Her work, done in a rural West Texas town, would later appear on the sets of "Yellowstone," and The Mavericks' concerts.
Cassandra Coronado Everett, the owner of Cenizo West and Cenizo Hatworks, started her brand in 2021 in Sabinal, a small town about 60 wiles west of San Antonio. Since starting Cenizo, her work has appeared on several notable celebrities, including:
Faith Hill, award-winning country singer and actress. The piece was commissioned by her husband, Tim McGraw.
Raul Malo, Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, producer and frontman of The Mavericks.
Cristina Voros, Cowgirl Museum Hall Of Fame inductee, who also has director of photography and executive producer credits in "Lawmen: Bass Reeves," "Yellowstone," and "1883."
Nicole Sheridan, wife of executive producer and director of "Yellowstone" Taylor Sheridan.
Her designs also appeared on characters Clara Brewer (played by Lilli Kay) and the assistant to Gov. John Dutton (played by Kevin Costner) while filming the show, "Yellowstone."
A wax block and dental tools led Cassandra Coronado Everett to create Cenizo West, Cenizo Hatworks
Everett spent most of her childhood in Corpus Christi, and graduated from South Plains College and Texas Tech in Lubbock in 2012. She eventually found herself in Sabinal, with a desire to create jewelry and hats for herself.
"The thought process on that was to make something for me that I wanted to wear," Everett said. "I picked up a block of wax one day and some dental tools, and just started tinkering with that."
Though she did not have prior experience, Everett crafted her first piece - a Sacred Heart Ring.
"I still wear and love it to this day," Everett said. "And that's really how it started, just wanting to make pieces that I wanted to wear that I wasn't used to seeing out in the world."
A person models jewelry crafted by Cenizo West.
She continued creating pieces inspired by her Spanish, Native American, and Texan heritage with the idea of "rugged meets refined." The idea weaves the rugged landscapes of Texas with high-quality materials.
"It's a very beautiful blend of this concept, where rugged meets refined, and that's a big part of why I create what I create," Everett said. "The pieces have this kind of attitude, a bit of ruggedness to them."
People stopped her on the street to ask where she bought her pieces, Everett recalled. Upon learning she designed them, people started asking if she would sell or make pieces for them.
Her designs started with jewelry, then expanded into hats with unique creases. The creases on the top of hats form bull heads, diamonds, arrows, and other designs.
"Whenever I created my first crease, the bull crease, that is what everyone started really buzzing about," Everett said. "I didn't create it because I thought anyone would wear it. I made it because I was bored and wanted to make something different. And I made it, loved it, and was like 'yep, I'm wearing it."
By 2021, Everett started the Cenizo West jewelry brand and Cenizo Hatworks.
"I went into this without expecting or even hoping for anything," Everett said. "I'm just thankful that whatever it is that I decide to create makes one person happy, and could change the course of even just one day for one person. I think that is enough for me."
An event with musicians brought Cenizo into the spotlight with Raul Malo, 'Yellowstone' executives
Many of Everett's commissions and sales come through people talking to each other, or in-person spur-of-the-moment conversations. Her first celebrity commission came from one of those in-person encounters.
"We've always gone to musical performances, and (my husband and I) were at an event with lots of musicians," Everett said. "I was pulled aside by Rick Rodriguez, and he's the one who got this dialogue going on what I was wearing."
Rodriguez was at the event with Gilbert Reyes, the lead designer and brand manager for Hohner instruments. Rodriquez was also working with Raul Malo, of The Mavericks. After talking, Everett made Reyes and Malo some pieces.
Malo then wore those pieces when he accepted The Mavericks Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award at the 2021 Americana Music Association Awards in Nashville.
"Raul was very open to the idea that if it's in this color, that was what mattered, and past that, I could basically do whatever I felt compelled to create," Everett said.
Through word-of-mouth, as Cenizo does not have a storefront, reviews of Everett's work reached the ears of Cristina Voros.
"She wore the pieces to the set of '1883,' and it caused a stir, and then it went from there," Everett said.
This bull-shaped hat was crafted by Cassandra Coronado Everett, owner of Cenizo Hatworks.
One of Everett's most challenging and favorite pieces was a hat for Voros. Cenizo Hatworks hats use felt and have specialty creases formed on the tops. Voros challenged her to make a Sacred Heart crease.
"I told her I may not be able to, but I was going to try," Everett said. "I built the hat from scratch and started sculpting, and it ended up becoming this beautiful, complex crease. I would say that is my favorite piece to date."
