The MDT DESIGN Legacy

Two Generations of Handmade Jewellery. One Commitment to Craftsmanship.

“Some things are created to be admired for a moment. Others are created to be treasured for generations.”

Walk into almost any home and somewhere you’ll find a jewellery box.

Inside it may be an heirloom engagement ring that was worn every day for fifty years. A gold and diamond wedding ring that has quietly witnessed a lifetime of love together. A pendant or necklace given as a push present to celebrate the birth of a child. Perhaps even a ring passed from a mother to daughter, or from grandmother to granddaughter. These pieces carry memories far more valuable than the gold and diamonds from which they were made from.

Long after fashion trends have changed, the photos have faded and the people who first wore them are no longer here, these pieces live on.

Precious handmade jewellery has an extraordinary ability to outlive us.

When made correctly it can become part of a family’s story.

This simple truth has guided MDT DESIGN’s way from the very start.

For over four decades, our family has believed that jewellery should be more than beautiful. It should be a meaningful mark in a special point in a person’s life. It should be handmade the traditional way, with patience rather than speed, with integrity rather than compromise, and with the hope that one day it will become part of another family’s legacy.

That belief began with its founder, Nicholas Theochari, in 1981.

Today, the legacy continues through to the next generation, with his eldest son, Kosta Theochari, leading MDT DESIGN, while working alongside the man who first taught him the craft. His daughter, Ellen Theochari, working in the business as well as his youngest son Steven Theochari playing a huge role in the direction of MDT DESIGN.

The tools have changed and evolved.

The workshop has learnt and grown.

The jewellery and diamond industry has changed dramatically.

But the values that shaped MDT DESIGN remain unchanged and stand exactly as they were over forty years ago.

Because true handmade craftsmanship will never go out of style.

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Where It All Started

Every family business has a beginning. Someone who sacrificed themselves to create something bigger than them. 

Ours did not begin with a marketing plan, a board of directors or investors. It wasn’t even a desire to build Australia’s largest jewellery company.

It began with a jewellery workbench.

When Nicholas Theochari founded Melbourne Diamond Traders in 1981, he wasn’t chasing trends or looking for the fastest way to make engagement rings and jewellery. He was driven by something much more humble and far more enduring, a belief that every piece should be made properly and given the chance to last a lifetime.

At a time when the jewellery industry was already adapting to embrace mass produced casting methods, processes to create faster manufacturing methods, Nicholas remained fascinated by traditional handmade craftsmanship.

He loved the process; he loved the feel.

A rough sketch, a few loose diamonds and some rough pieces of metal come together to make an elegant design.

A piece of precious metal slowly being shaped and forged in a jeweller’s hands.

A diamond finally being set into a ring that was designed and created around it.

For Nicholas, jewellery making was never simply just manufacturing.

It was problem solving.

Balancing proportions.

Understanding light.

Engineering strength.

Creating beauty that would withstand everyday life.

Those principles shaped every decision Nicholas made, and before long they became built into the fabric, or in this case Gold, of every design. It became the philosophy of the business itself.

Clients quickly recognised the differences of handmade, the look, the feel, the finish, the weight and the perfect design. 

They weren’t simply buying jewellery.

They were becoming part of the design process.

Every conversation was finely detailed.

Every sketch no matter how rough explained aspects.

Every tiny tweak and adjustment mattered.

Because when someone entrusts you to create a ring that will mark one of the most important moments of their life, and be with your family for a lifetime, “good enough” is never good enough.

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Building a Reputation for Quality, One Piece at a Time

Businesses are often remembered for the advertisements they run.

MDT DESIGN built its reputation a different way.

One happy client at a time.

One meaningful recommendation at a time.

One beautifully finished handmade piece at a time.

As the years passed, clients returned. Not only for anniversaries and milestone celebrations, but with friends, siblings, children and eventually grandchildren.

The greatest compliment was never simply receiving another request for a ring to be handmade.

It was hearing a client say,

“You made my engagement ring thirty years ago. Now I’d like you to make one for my daughter.”

That is something that no advertising campaign can buy.

It can only be earned.

In 1988, the business opened its first boutique, creating a place where clients could experience the handmade jewellery differently.

Rather than separating the design process from handmaking process, MDT DESIGN brought them together.

The ideas discussed in the boutique could be carried out directly in the on-site Melbourne workshop.

Designs were created and refined through conversations with an actual jeweller who knew what was possible.

Questions were answered by the actual jewellers making the jewellery, not simply just selling it.

In 1992, the business evolved again to become MDT DESIGN, an acronym form Melbourne Diamond Traders combined with the added design. A name that better reflected what the company had grown to stand for and represent. Melbourne Diamond Traders with jewellery design. 

Not just diamonds.

Not just jewellery.

But thoughtful Melbourne designed engagement rings and jewellery, exceptional handmade traditional craftsmanship and pieces made to last lifetimes on.

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A Different Philosophy

The jewellery industry has changed enormously since 1981.

Modern technology has transformed the way many pieces things are manufactured today.

Computer modelling and CAD casting has become the standard in most jewellery stores.

Mass production has become the standard without many even knowing it.

For some there is nothing inherently wrong with progress.

In fact, MDT DESIGN has embraced many technological advances that improve precision, efficiency and client experience, but not mass production or casting techniques. 

One thing has never changed.

Our belief that the finest jewellery still begins with the hands of an experienced jeweller.

Handmade jewellery isn’t about resisting technology.

It’s about preserving craftsmanship.

Every curve can be refined.

Every setting manipulated and adjusted.

Every single claw carefully formed and shaped.

Every proportion changed to please the eye, not measurements on a screen.

Every piece of jewellery created with the intention that it will endure.

Those small decisions are not something noticed when looked at individually.

But together, they are what creates jewellery that simply feels different.

More weight.

More strength.

More balanced.

More comfortable.

More personal.

More yours. 

This is why so many of our clients tell us they knew they had found the right Melbourne jeweller long before they had seen their finished ring.

They felt heard and involved in the design process.

They could see the care that had gone into every fine detail.

They knew exactly where it was being made.

They Knew who was making it. 

These kinds of a connections cannot be mass produced.

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“Jewellery is one of the very few things we create today with the hope that someone else will treasure it fifty years from now.”

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Recognition Through Handmade Craftsmanship

Throughout his career, Nicholas never set out to create award-winning jewellery.

He set out to create the best quality handmade jewellery he possibly could.

Through his passion for quality and innovative eye for design, the awards would then follow naturally.

Over the many years, his work has been recognised through numerous Australian jewellery design awards like the Diamond guild of Australia (DGA), Jewellery Association of Australian (JAA) and the jeweller design award’s (JDA), including celebrated pieces such as Three Wise Men, Pente, Xenya, Meteor, Forward and many other finalist and award-winning designs.

Each piece represents countless hours of thought, sketches, making models in silver, refining them, problem solving and handmaking the final piece in precious metals and gemstones.

Yet if you were to ask Nicholas today what he is the proudest of, it is unlikely he would begin with the awards he has been recognised for.

He would almost certainly speak about the people, the clients, the family. 

The couples who returned years later.

The families who trusted MDT DESIGN across generations.

The privilege of handmaking jewellery that became part of someone’s love story, their life’s most meaningful moments and their family.

Awards recognise amazing design and technical excellence.

The loyalty of generations of clients is something even more valuable than that.

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The Greatest Legacy

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Nicholas Theochari wasn’t building a successful Melbourne jewellery business.

It was creating a culture.

A culture where quality will always come before convenience.

Where quality handmade craftsmanship is valued over mass production and speed.

Where every client and their piece is treated individually.

And where jewellery is never created simply to be sold, it is created to become part of someone’s life story.

Those values have shaped MDT DESIGN for decades.

Eventually, they would shape someone else as well.

Not an office or across a boardroom table.

But beside the very same jeweller’s bench where the MDT DESIGN story first began all those years ago.

Passing the Bench

For many businesses, succession happens with words and figures on a page and a signature.

For MDT DESIGN, it all happened at a jeweller’s workbench.

Well before becoming Managing Director, Kosta Theochari spent years learning the trade beside his father. This was not in meetings or in management courses, but in the workshop where every lesson had to be mastered and learned.

Like every apprentice, the journey began with mastering the fundamentals.

Learning how precious metals behave under heat and can be manipulated.

Understanding why claws of a setting will last a lifetime while on others, doomed to eventually fail.

Discovering that the small details, often not visible to the client or the naked eye, are usually the ones that in time will matter most.

A perfectly polished and refined edge.

A strong yet seamless looking solder join.

A claw formed and shaped with precision and symmetry.

A ring that feels comfortable when worn as every edge and curve has been considered by the jeweller making it.

These kinds of lessons cannot be taught or mastered in a weekend, nor can they be downloaded from the internet. They are developed through thousands of hours at the jewellery bench, guided by experienced jewellers who have different ways of doing things, and refined through practice and patience.

Working alongside Nicholas taught Kosta far more than how to make heirloom quality handmade jewellery.

It taught him how to think like a craftsman.

To have the highest standards for quality, design and service.

That “good enough.” is not good enough. 

To continue shaping and refining a piece until it feels complete and perfect.

To understand that each individually designed and handmade engagement ring represents one of the most significant moments in another person’s life, and deserves to be treated accordingly.

These values continue to guide MDT DESIGN to this day just as they have since the very beginning.

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Handmade Craftsmanship Is Passed Down, Not Mass Produced

There is an old saying that experience cannot be borrowed.

In the jewellery industry, it must be passed from one generation to the next.

Every experienced jeweller develops their own instincts that cannot be measured on a job packet, sketch or on a drawing.

How much pressure can be applied to a claw when setting a diamond.

How a claw should be refined and finished so it remains both elegant and durable.

When a ring should be restored rather than remade.

When preserving an heirloom piece, history is more important than making it look brand new.

These decisions can only come from years of experience.

At MDT DESIGN, those years have been shared across generations.

The knowledge Nicholas gained through his career continues to influence every piece that leaves the MDT DESIGN on-site Melbourne jewellery workshop today. while Kosta has brought his own expertise, embracing contemporary design and evolving client expectations without ever losing sight of the main principles on which MDT DESIGN was started on.

Rather than replacing handmade tradition, each generation has built upon it.

That is how the MDT DESIGN legacy will continue to grow.

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Honouring Handmade Tradition While Embracing Innovation

The jewellery industry today is very different from the one Nicholas entered as an apprentice more than four decades ago.

Clients arrive having researched lab-grown and natural diamonds online.

Design inspiration comes from every corner of the world, while still being in your lounge room.

Modern technology offers remarkable new tools to assist jewellers.

Innovation has undoubtedly improved many aspects of the jewellery industry, and MDT DESIGN has never been afraid to embrace technological advances with one condition; only if they genuinely benefit the client and the longevity of their piece.

At the same time, years of experience has taught us that modern technology should never replace handmade craftsmanship, it should be used to assist it.

It is why every custom-made piece is still assessed by an experienced jeweller.

It is why the proportion matters just as much as the measurements.

It is why the balance matters just as much as the shine and brilliance.

And it is why every individually designed and handmade jewellery piece that is finished is judged not only by how it looks when first collected, but by how it looks and feels in the hand and how it will perform over decades of everyday wear.

That same philosophy also extends to sapphire and diamond selection.

As a qualified jeweller and diamond grader, Kosta understands that two diamonds with a similar grading report can look very differently once viewed and compared in person and under natural light.

Over the many years, he has developed a reputation for souring and selecting high graded quality diamonds with exceptional lustre rather than relying solely on what is written on the diamond’s grading certificate. It is a timely process that requires the same attention to detail Nicholas has applied to traditional handmade craftsmanship.

The diamonds certificate only tells part of the story.

The diamond itself will tell the rest.

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“The finest quality jewellery is never remembered because it was made quickly. It is remembered because it was designed and handmade exceptionally well.”

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More Than a Melbourne Jewellery Workshop

Today, MDT DESIGN remains proudly family owned and operated.

Nicholas continues to share the knowledge gained through decades at the jewellery bench with his family, team and clients.

Kosta leads the business while remaining deeply involved in both the boutiques collections, client’s jewellery design’s, sapphire and diamond selection and client consultations.

Together with Steven, Ellen and the wider MDT DESIGN team, they continue to build upon the values that have defined the family business since 1981.

Every member of the MDT DESIGN team contributes something different.

A Different set of skills.

Different experiences.

Different views and perspectives.

Different ways of doing things. 

Yet everyone works towards the same important goal.

To create traditionally handmade jewellery worthy of becoming part of another family’s story.

That purpose influences every aspect of the business, not just handmade rings. 

Whether it’s a client is designing a custom-made engagement ring, choosing diamond wedding rings, remodelling an inherited piece of jewellery or restoring a treasured family heirloom, the approach remains the same.

Listen carefully.

Offer honest and professional advice.

Design and handmake something that will still be loved decades from now.

Relationships have always been just as important, if not more important that the handmade craftsmanship itself.

Many clients who first visited MDT DESIGN as newly engaged couples now return with their children and grandchildren, to celebrating the next chapter of their family’s story.

There are few compliments greater than being trusted across generations.

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Jewellery That Lives Beyond a Lifetime

Every day, our jewellery silently witnesses life’s most precious and important moments.

Down on one knee for the proposal.

A wedding planning and ceremony.

An anniversary.

A family celebration.

The birth of a child.

Years later, it becomes a reminder of those memories. A memory you carry with you day in and day out. 

Unlike so many possessions, fine jewellery often grows more meaningful with time.

The scratches on a wedding ring speak of a life lived together.

A resized engagement ring reflects changing seasons of life.

An heirloom restored in our on-site Melbounre jewellery workshop allows another generation to wear a treasured family piece with confidence.

This is why we believe all jewellery should be handmade with longevity in mind.

Not simply to impress today.

But to endure tomorrow.

This trust in us is a big responsibility we never take lightly.

Because one day, the jewellery our commission us to handmake may no longer belong to that person.

It may now belong to their daughter.

Their son.

Their grandchild.

Someone who has never met us, yet will still get to experience the quality, care and handmade craftsmanship invested in that piece many years prior.

That thought is constantly with us and continues to inspire every ring, pendant and wedding band created in our on-site Melbourne workshop.

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Looking to the Future

The future of MDT DESIGN is not about becoming the largest jeweller in Melbourne or Australia.

This has never been the case.

It is about continuing to create quality handmade jewellery on-site in Melbourne with the same integrity that inspired Nicholas more than forty years ago, while embracing new ideas, modern technologies and techniques that genuinely improve the quality of the piece and the experience for our clients.

The jewellery workshop will continue to grow.

The jewellery designs will continue to evolve.

The jewellery industry will continue to move forward.

What will never change is our belief that exceptional quality jewellery starts and finishes with exceptional handmade craftsmanship.

Every sketch will still deserve thoughtful jeweller consideration.

Every diamond will still deserve a diamond graders careful selection.

Every client still deserves honest and professional advice.

Every piece still deserves to be handmade as though it were for our own family.

That commitment has guided MDT DESIGN for more than four decades.

It will continue to guide us for many more.

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A Legacy Measured in Stories

When Nicholas Theochari founded Melbourne Diamond Traders in 1981, he could never have known how many people’s lives his work would touch.

Thousands of engagement rings.

Thousands of wedding rings.

Thousands of eternity rings.

Thousands of presents. 

Thousands of celebrations.

Thousands of stories.

Some of the very first engagement rings created by MDT DESIGN have now become treasured family heirlooms, passed down from one generation to another.

Kids who once visited the jewellery boutique and workshop in Melbourne with their parents, now return as adults to design and have made an engagement ring of their own.

What began as one jeweller’s vision, Nicholas Theochari, has become a family legacy shared by generations of families across Melbourne and Australia.

That, more than anything else, is what defines Nichola’s success.

Not simply the jewellery we have handmade.

But the precious memories our handmade pieces have marked.

Because while every piece begins in its raw form, precious metal and gemstones, ultimately becomes something far more valuable.

A symbol of love.

A reminder of family.

A connection between generations.

Long after trends have changed, technologies have advanced and particular fashions have been forgotten, we hope that somewhere an old MDT DESIGN jewellery box will be opened.

A ring will be placed on a finger.

A story and memory will be told.

And another generation of people will discover why it mattered so much to have the piece individually deigned and handmade. That someone took no shortcuts and chose to make that piece properly, the traditional way, the handmade way.

If that happens, everything Nicholas has worked hard for and began more than forty years ago will still be doing exactly what it was always intended to do.

Creating jewellery that becomes part of another family’s legacy, from the MDT DESIGN family to theirs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long has MDT DESIGN been creating handmade jewellery?

MDT DESIGN was founded in 1981 and has been creating individually designed and traditional handmade jewellery for more than four decades. Every piece continues to be designed and made with the same commitment to craftsmanship that has guided the business since its beginning.

Who are Nicholas and Kosta Theochari?

Nicholas Theochari, the founder of MDT DESIGN, an award-winning Australian jeweller based in Melbourne CBD whose career has helped shape the business’s philosophy of quality handmade craftsmanship. Kosta Theochari, Nicholas’s son, is Managing Director, a qualified diamond grader and experienced qualified jeweller who began his apprenticeship in 2003, continuing the family’s commitment to exceptional handmade jewellery and personalised service.

Is MDT DESIGN still family owned?

Yes. MDT DESIGN remains proudly family owned and operated, with multiple members of the Theochari family working together to continue a tradition of handmade jewellery, expert craftsmanship and genuine client care.

Is your jewellery made in Melbourne?

Yes. Every bespoke piece is designed and handmade in our Melbourne workshop, allowing clients to work directly with experienced jewellers throughout the design and manufacturing process.

Why does MDT DESIGN still handmake jewellery?

Handmade jewellery offers a level of refinement, strength and individuality that cannot be achieved through casting and mass production techniques. It allows every piece to be carefully handmade around the stones and the person who will wear it, creating jewellery designed to last for generations.

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Our Family’s Promise

For more than forty years, one belief has remained unchanged.

Jewellery should never simply be made.

It should be thoughtfully designed.

Patiently handmade the traditional way.

Made with integrity.

And created with the hope that, many years from now, someone will hold it in their hands and think of the story it represents and the things it has seen.

That has always been the philosophy of MDT DESIGN.

It’s the legacy that Nicholas Theochari began.

It’s the responsibility the next generation proudly carries forward.

And it’s our promise to every client who entrusts us with life’s most meaningful moments.