Mateo

Mateo

Matthew Harris, who goes by Mateo, started making jewelry for himself in Brooklyn in 2009, the story goes that a screw fell out of a wall while he was moving apartments and he turned it into a necklace. He is self-taught, and the label he eventually built stayed men's-only until 2014, when he launched a women's fine jewelry line after Rihanna was photographed wearing one of his pieces.

Jewelry

Mateo's whole reputation rests on this one category, built by a designer who trained nobody but himself and grew the label through word of mouth rather than a runway show. Initial pendants, rings and pearl pieces in 14kt gold carry the same instinct that shaped his original men's necklaces: refined and a little unfussy, built to be worn constantly rather than saved for an occasion.

Our honest take

A brand that started because a screw fell out of a wall is either a great origin story or a very good piece of myth-making, and at this point it barely matters which. The women's line, launched five years after the men's, has clearly become the main event, and the jewelry holds up on its own without needing the anecdote to sell it.