Matthieu moved from Paris to New-Mexico when he was 19, where for seven years he studied Navajo, Hopi and Zuni jewelry techniques. He was immediately drawn to stamping, making concho belts and bracelets. He then moved to Mali, West-Africa and worked for a few years with the Fulani, Tuareg and Bambara jewelers. 

In 1999, Matthieu settled in Montreal Canada and continued his studies by going to a jewelry school and learning a more classical part of the trade. Over the years, Matthieu has returned to Africa regularly.

In 2014, Tim McCreight and Mattheiu Cheminee created the Toolbox Initiative, a non-profit organization that helps jewelers in West Africa through the gifts of donated tools.

“I have been stamping and making stamps since the beginning and have developed a form of stamping design by creating patterns that fill the entire piece of metal. This is called “tessellation”.

Matthieu has written two books,  “Legacy, jewelry techniques of West Africa“  and “The Art of Stamping”, both published at Brynmorgen Press.

Visit Matthieu's website or instagram page for more info on his work.