
For the past 25 years, Luis Morais has devoted himself to creating handmade jewelry and signature pieces, with materials from beads to crocodile skin to drill bits as his muse.
The Miami-based Brazilian designer’s anniversary collection, Inner Journey, reflects the craft and skill that Morais pours into his jewelry. It also shows the joy he brings to the bench after all these years, despite the ups, downs, and anything in between.
“There have been growing pains as a designer and as a business owner,” Morais says. “I mean, I didn’t plan any of this. But I’ve maintained the business. I reached the biggest stores that I wanted to work with. I have to work hard to keep it interesting for them, and for me, season after season.”

Drill bits appeal to Luis Morais because of his engineering background, but he has added a level of elegance to them with his drill bit bangles in 14k gold and diamonds.
Growing up in the southern Brazilian city of Londrina, Morais happily focused his attention on art. While his mother loved gold and jewelry, he never considered using his artistic talents in this area. Instead, he attended college, Escola de Engenharia Mauá and then Universidade Paulista, to become a civil engineer.
In 1994, Morais began working for Vicunha SA, a Brazilian textile company, which transferred him to the United States. When the company announced it was shifting operations and Morais would need to move home for the job, he decided to stay in the U.S. It was 1998, and Miami Beach became his new home.
“I was 27 years old, and I had to learn to live differently. I was working in a retail store then, and I was looking through a fashion magazine when I saw a bracelet I had to have. I was obsessed with that bracelet,” Morais says. “I called around, and I couldn’t find it.”
He finally tracked down the German company that had created the bracelet, and someone there told him it was simply a prop—not available for purchase. So Morais went to a leather shop and had a similar bracelet made for himself.

Morais’ gemstone chain necklaces feature motifs such as an eye, variously sized ovals, and crosses.
He wore the bracelet to work, and a fellow employee asked Morais to get him one, too. Not long after, the owner of a store where Morais was shopping also inquired about the bracelet.
“When I told him I had designed it, he wanted me to show him some samples of other bracelets I had. That’s how Luis Morais started. But I didn’t realize at that time that I had the beginnings of my business,” Morais says.
For two years, he made bracelets with leather while his interest in moving into fine jewelry grew—and ultimately compelled him to find a local metal shop and casting expert who knew how to work with silver and gold.
“That’s where my engineering background comes in—I had a different way of thinking about how to make things,” says Morais. “I insisted that my jewelry had to be able to move and be kinetic. I had to know how to make things work.”

Morais says he designs jewelry pieces that anybody can wear, such as this Entangled Knot Bracelet ($15,960) in 14k gold.
He’s been making things work since 2000, and Morais says its still feels great when he is in another city and someone walks past him wearing one of his designs.
For his silver anniversary this spring, Morais opened his first retail store, in Miami Beach. Then he debuted Inner Journey, a collection that he says tells the story of his life. Bracelets made from recycled vinyl records speak to his love of music. There are skulls, a nod to his years as a goth. He balances that rock ’n’ roll side of himself with crosses and other religious motifs.
“Jewelry connects people both through the object itself but also to the person who made it for them,” Morais says. “That is my intention with every piece of jewelry I make. I think about the gemstones I use. I think about their meaning. I think about the energy. I want to send people good vibes.”
Top: Luis Morais has been designing jewelry since 2000 and debuted a retail store and new collection for his silver anniversary. (Photos courtesy of Luis Morais)