Matt Harris of www.mattharrisdesigns.com has only been making jewelry for four years but has already made a name for himself in the jewelry world having learned to string pearls from some Chinese ladies who allowed him to “hang out with them and learn.”

So how did this novice become so well known so quickly? “One of the best ways to get your pieces out there in the jewelry biz is to get a celebrity to wear it. I thought Debra Messing would be perfect. So within a few weeks I got Debra to wear it on the tv show “Will & Grace.” She wore my pieces for several seasons on the show and that really helped to launch me,” Matt explained.

Matt only designs with pearls, using everything from colored pearls and off-center pearls to spiky pearls. “You have got such a natural element with the pearl. It’s pretty sexy - the story of how a pearl develops. I think there is something kind of romantic about this creation of nature,” Matt offered.

And what could be more romantic than creating timeless pieces for the most special day of a girl’s life – her wedding day. In the last year, Matt has created pieces for six carefully chosen weddings.

One such bride was Katy Nickell from Manhattan Beach, California whom Matt designed an array of pieces for her Oahua, Hawaii wedding held July 12, 2007.

Katy and Matt originally met at a charity event where he had donated a few necklaces. “Up to that point I had never really thought about doing custom jewelry for my bridesmaids. But I knew I wanted to do pearls because they are classy but also a little fun, and so this seemed to be the perfect gift,” and Katy added, “I had never seen pearls like Matt had anywhere before.”

The first step was for Katy to send Matt photos of her bridesmaids. Then they met so he could preview samples of the material as well as the style of the dresses. “The key was to create pieces that complemented the girls’ outfits,” Matt explained. “Her dresses were the color of eggplant. So we used eggplant dyed pearls. To have her bridesmaids wear eggplant colored pearls is pretty avant garde.”

Matt created a piece for each of Katy’s bridesmaids, a necklace for her mother, and several pieces for her to wear the night before as well as to breakfast the next day. Additionally, Matt created earrings made from South Seas yellow pearls for the bride to wear on her wedding day that matched a special piece that her husband had given her when they started dating. The piece Matt made for the maid of honor also had South Seas yellow pearls and diamonds to make that bridge from the bride to the bridesmaids.

“Her mom was a challenge because her dress was a spun gold color with sequins. But I found pearls that worked perfectly and I was really happy with the result,” said Matt.

Katy and Matt met three times during the jewelry making process. “I loved working with Matt, he was willing to do whatever he needed to make my day perfect,” said Katy. “Creating gifts like these does help bring it all together and make it more of you.” 

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