Filipino-Canadian jewelry designer Allan Matudio brings a scientific clarity to sculptural forms.

PHOTOGRAPHY Zach Lata
Allan Matudio and I are exchanging e-mails up until the last few hours before his flight to Manila. He&rsquo;s brimming with excitement; at the time of writing, he is&nbsp;just about to make his Philippine debut at the latest PHx Station pop-up, a bewildering dream come true for the designer, whose immigrant roots reflect proudly in the mirrorlike gleam of his intricate silverwork.
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe I&rsquo;m sharing my work in the Philippines,&rdquo; Matudio says, his awe palpable. &ldquo;Despite us building a healthy Filipino artist community [in Canada], Filipino artists in general often have to start from scratch. Canada is so diverse; I see adornments from all over the world that share tales of legend and tradition. I want to make pieces like that.&rdquo; His many mediums&nbsp;of expression&mdash;spanning from comic book illustrations to metalwork&mdash;all spotlight the Filipino-Canadian identity, migrant worker struggles, and pre-colonial Filipino mythology.
Matudio&rsquo;s personal lore is just as interesting. Born in Montreal, he worked in the scientific field for several years after obtaining a master&rsquo;s degree in chemical engineering. Eventually, he returned to the creative world, got into art school, and landed a day job with a video game company. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fairly new to making jewelry, to be honest,&rdquo; he admits. So far, he has created pieces for Belgium-based Filipino artist Joshua Serafin, featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale. It&rsquo;s a promising start to another chapter of an already colorful career.
Congratulations on your Philippine debut. What&rsquo;s it been like being a jewelry designer with a Filipino-Canadian background? How have these roots shaped your art?
Thank you! This is a dream come true! I stand out because there are few designers with a Philippine background in Canada. Non-Filipinos appreciate that I&rsquo;m sharing stories through my&nbsp;pieces and Canadians with a Philippine background are surprised by my designs. I&rsquo;m grateful for all the support and excitement from my peers. There have been some challenges, though. The Filipino community is large but there aren&rsquo;t as many Filipinos who are interested in the same things as me. It would have been nice to have Filipino jewelry mentors here.
I grew up in Montreal, a city on the east side of Canada that has a lot of French influence and is close to New York City. There are so many cultural dynamics at play, and they&rsquo;re visible in what people wear.

Let&rsquo;s talk about your upcoming collection for the PHx Station pop-up. What were your inspirations for it?
Most of my work is inspired by lived-experiences and folktales. The heart of my work is in its storytelling and this collection continues that trend. From the legend of the moon-swallowing&nbsp;Bakunawa to the tides that connect us, it&rsquo;s our stories that excite me into making pieces. Perhaps what makes this collection different from the previous ones is that I wanted it to take cues not only from mythology, but also from things I could actually see in my environment. We decided to call this release the Eskinita Collection, an allusion to the fringes of society.
What piqued your fascination with the silhouettes, textures, materials, and techniques you&rsquo;ve used in this collection?
In general, my designs are influenced by my proximity to punk and hip-hop culture&mdash;specifically the sharp, spiky language associated with the punk scene and the big and bold of hip hop. Although the pieces look aggressive at first glance, I try to balance the textures by having shapes weave into each other. The mirrorlike quality of silver helps with this. I also think that silver has more&nbsp;of that youthful rebellious energy. This series blended wax carving and 3-D modeling. I enjoy the therapeutic feeling of working with wax, but during the production of this collection, I was determined to master the art of 3-D printing. It was refreshing to be able to prototype so fast. At this point, I&rsquo;ve basically maxed out the potential of my home printer. I need a more refined one!
What was the most fascinating part of creating this collection?
A fun story is how I came up with the choker design. One night over drinks, a friend and I were imagining what Maria Makiling would look like in the 2020s. My friend said that she would be a dominatrix, and that we would probably be her subs or servants. I thought that was such a fun idea. I had to make it into reality. The choker&rsquo;s main hardware features the baybayin character symbolically associated with babae, bayan, bahay. I think it works well conceptually.
Could you tell us more about your brand and how it&rsquo;s evolved through the years? What are your dreams for it?
I started off trying to replicate designs from Philippine ancestral gold. This pivoted to making pieces that focused on community and identity healing. Much of my current work still carries those inspired elements, but now I&rsquo;m more intentional about making&nbsp;my pieces look the way I want them to. I&rsquo;m taking more artistic liberties and breaking lots of rules. I just hope my work inspires the next generation of artists and designers. I feel like I&rsquo;m only just beginning to tap into something. My style is still in its infancy.

"Design like you're making gifts for your friends."

Could you tell us a little bit about your career background?
I do believe that my engineering background and my professional experience as an illustrator has helped expedite the learning process of jewelry making. I feel like a mad scientist when I&rsquo;m on my jewelry workbench. I learned metalsmithing at the Metal Arts Academy in Montreal and about gems and lapidary at Montreal&rsquo;s&nbsp;Gems and Minerals Club. Montreal is quite the fashion hub in Canada. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d have learned as fast as I did if it wasn&rsquo;t for the access to materials, tools, and services that this city has to offer. In general, I like making conceptual pieces. Most of my jewelry-related income comes from designing custom wedding bands.
How has your design perspective shifted or remained since your last release?
I&rsquo;ve always just wanted to make pieces for myself or for my friends. I often think about a particular person or certain groups of people while I&rsquo;m working on something.
What are your long-term influences? What are the things that have inspired you for years?
I can literally spend an entire day at the museum. Ancestral art will always be a reference and benchmark for me. Sometimes it&rsquo;s not even about design or technique but rather function and cultural significance. Ancestral gold, textiles, pottery, woodwork, and even folktales will always excite me.
What are your current influences?
I&rsquo;m surrounded by punk and hip-hop. I&rsquo;m influenced by what&nbsp;my friends are wearing. I work a lot in the Filipino community and the people in my circle look so cool. I want to make pieces that reinforce and enhance their aura. In general, I&rsquo;m inspired by designers who are able to transform the wearer. I&rsquo;m inspired by cosplay and bizarre ballroom, by mediums that aren&rsquo;t afraid to exaggerate, like anime, individuals that really don&rsquo;t care about what people think about them. I&rsquo;m inspired by that rebellious spirit.
Your design philosophy in one sentence?
Design like you&rsquo;re making gifts for your friends.

Tending Roots: Allan Matudio

Recommended posts for you

Bijoux

Boucheron Revives Its Arrow Motif With Striking New Creations

Beauty

Green Is Not a Creative Color: Beauty Editorial

Fashion