Some brands are born from business plans. Fortes Jewellery was born from love.
In 2020, as the world came to a standstill, Maria Eduarda Fortes gifted her mother a goldsmithing course. Her mother was undergoing cancer treatment and had long nurtured a quiet dream: to learn how to make jewellery. The isolation of the pandemic finally opened that window. Maria Eduarda enrolled alongside her — not to learn, but to be present.
What happened next surprised everyone.
When support becomes a calling
Maria Eduarda arrived at that first class with no expectations for herself. She was there for her mother. But the metal responded to her hands in a way that couldn't be ignored. The technique came naturally. The aesthetic instinct came even faster. And what began as an act of love slowly became, week by week, its own language.
People started requesting pieces. First friends, then acquaintances, then strangers. Commissions became practice. Practice became a brand. On October 1st, 2020, Fortes Jewellery was founded — carrying in its name the very strength that brought it into being.
Every piece is already a story
Each Fortes piece has its roots in something real. The Anel Marlene honours a grandmother. The Pulseira Memórias speaks of childhood. The Escapulário São José e Iemanjá unites Catholic and Afro-Brazilian devotions. The Pulseira Maria Victoria remembers a lifelong best friend.
These are not decorative references. They are memories solidified in metal.
This narrative foundation is what sets Fortes apart from any other contemporary jewellery brand. Here, design and story are inseparable. A Fortes piece is not simply beautiful — it exists because something needed to be said.
Rio de Janeiro as a starting point
The brand is born in Rio and carries the city in its DNA. The tropical lightness of the Chinelo Pendant, the syncretic devotion of the escapulário, the passion for Flamengo FC in the Rubro Negro pendants — all of it is Rio. But Fortes also speaks to the world. The contemporary design, the well-placed irony, and the noble materials (18k gold and 980 silver) place the brand in a territory that goes beyond the local.
This is Brazilian jewellery with international ambition — and a personal story that anyone, anywhere, can feel.
What Fortes Jewellery is today
Five years after that first goldsmithing class, Fortes Jewellery has over 100 pieces, has shown at São Paulo Fashion Week, exhibited at cultural fairs including Carandaí and ArtRio, and ships to clients across Brazil and abroad. Every piece is still made by hand, in 980 silver or 18k gold, in Maria Eduarda's studio in Rio de Janeiro.
Her mother recovered. And the daughter built a brand.