Mesh jewelry has arrived in Chiado

Tiago is dedicated to the design and the entire visual development of the project, including Instagram. João, dedicated to pure and simple business, is operating an adventure that has emerged from the first family seeds, who had some doubts about the creations that took more risks. “I worked with my father and I usually say that Mesh came about to try to earn some money for the weekend. I had some jewelry there and I thought I would try the market. We make a lot of jewelry for the mass market , for jewelry stores, I designed other lines and he told me that the market didn’t want that. However, I sold them to my friends , to my friends’ mothers. After all, someone bought them!”, describes Tiago, passing through Calçada do Sacramento, which witnesses this meeting between artisanal tradition and a slightly more disruptive approach.

The clan’s factory in Gondomar has already produced, and continues to produce, thousands of pieces, the so-called white label jewellery, which the end consumer will see in retail outlets outside Portugal or in independent stores that are renowned for their products. In total, Mesh is now present in more than 300 national and international points of sale, in markets such as Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom. “Wholesalers would come to my father, who started working more on trends and had a showroom. They would buy and distribute to jewellers. We also work with brands that want to develop their own collections. And in this area, which we have been exploring for about 6 or 7 years, groups such as the French Sézane and the North American TJX are emerging. We started working with Europeans, then with Americans and Canadians.” Another noteworthy type of client is that it is as unexpected as it is profitable. “ Jewellery sales channels are a very good client of ours . It’s something we don’t have much of here, but it works abroad.”

When the market research for the launch of their own line bore fruit, Mesh was the name chosen, as it speaks of the goldsmith's mesh known for its linked links, is short, direct, repeatable in the same way in different languages, and points to this connection between the family legacy and the energy of new steps, explains Tiago, who highlights the advantage in the sector of having their own production, which allows them to constantly dream and make things happen. “I was somewhat educated in this, even when I didn't have Mesh. A person has to always be creating. As a brand, we launch a collection every three months, we can also do a capsule line, but in terms of the factory we have to always be producing”, describes the manager, whose style is known for its variations. “I really like working in this ethnic, rural, minimalist line, but I also like other types of jewelry. They don't all have to be full of bling-bling, but with a touch of elegance. In other words, we have a lot of variety for different tastes.”

With two men as the visible face of the project, the hands in charge of this task at the factory are essentially female. Furthermore, Tiago admits that designing accessories for men is a much harder job than catering to women’s tastes and desires — even though some of the pieces, especially from the most recent collection, include several very transversal proposals. “We already had a capsule line for men and we are thinking of doing it again, but it’s funny that for me it’s harder to design for men, even when I want a bracelet for myself. When I see a woman, the first thing I like to look at is her earrings, necklace, bracelets. It’s easier,” he admits.

The duo opened their first store in Aliados in 2016, and later a second location in Largo de São Domingos, also in Porto. The Mesh community has been growing, and online traffic now generates enough traffic to make physical stores unnecessary, but the fact is that they had been thinking about coming to Lisbon under their own name for some time — despite already selling at El Corte Ingles. “We wanted to implement the brand nationwide.” They spent two years looking for the ideal store and found the push they needed when they visited a Stylista market. In Chiado, they found “a fantastic place” to convey the identity of the brand, whose expertise is in silver but which they plan to diversify soon. “ Many of our customers and distributors are asking for a gold line . The next step will be to create one, not a giant collection, but a capsule.”

Keeping an eye on the market and anticipating opportunities has not gone amiss over the last few decades. “My grandfather started working when he was nine or ten years old in a company that made tools for goldsmiths, because at the time there were no prototyping or laser machines, and he was very good at it. He began to see that goldsmiths were earning more money than he was, so he began to produce with the machines and create the industry. In fact, he even had an industry that worked 24 hours a day. He no longer made the machines; he began to import machines from Germany. He was a visionary.” Any of his seven children followed the path of goldsmithing, emancipated from the parent company but all of them loyal to the sector, more linked to filigree or imports. “My father, the segment that my father applied himself to was a segment that was a little more fashion-forward, trend-forward, and that was when I started to work more seriously.”

Calçada do Sacramento, 29, Lisbon. Every day, between 11am and 7pm.