MDT Design, Melbourne's Greek-Cypriot Jewellers at 45

Updated October 2026

Every Greek-Australian family has a version of this story. Somebody arrived with not much, worked like the day had 30 hours in it, and built something the kids could stand on. In the Theochari family, that something is a jewellery workshop on Collins Street, and 45 years on they’re still making everything by hand.

MDT Design turns 45 in 2026. Four and a half decades of a Melbourne jewellery business that began with migration from Cyprus and Greece, a teenager learning to work metal by hand, and a stubborn belief that the slow way is the better way. Nicholas Theochari founded it in 1981. Today he works alongside his three children, Kosta, Ellen and Steven, in the same city where his parents started over.

Cypriot on one side, Greek on the other

Nicholas was born in Australia in 1960, about four years after his parents left Cyprus looking for a better run at life for a growing family. You know the shape of it even if the details differ from your own family’s. The long work, the thrift, the quiet determination to hold onto who you are while you build something new in a country that spells your name wrong.

Greeks have a word for the whole experience of building a life away from home. Xenitiá, the ache and the grind of the emigrant years, the longing for one place while you put down roots in another. The Theochari parents lived it, same as so many Cypriot and Greek families who came out in the 1950s and 60s and turned Melbourne into one of the great Greek cities of the world.

Nicholas later married an Australian-born woman whose own parents had migrated from Greece around the same time. So the family carries both halves, Cypriot and Greek, and both still matter to how they see themselves. Their three children grew up inside that, and in time all three came into the business.

One apprentice, 1975

The craft came first. In 1975 Nicholas began his apprenticeship, learning to work precious metals by hand the traditional way, the only way there was back then. By 1981, at just 21, he’d set up his own wholesale jewellery manufacturing business in the Melbourne CBD.

Seven years later, in 1988, he opened his first retail store on Bourke Street, under the name Melbourne Diamond Traders. In 1992 the business became MDT Design, Melbourne Diamond Traders with Design bolted on, and moved to Swanston Street as the work tilted toward original custom design and manufacturing. What started as one young jeweller’s ambition grew into a two-generation Melbourne business.

Cycladic Spaces tip: if you’re ever in the CBD and curious, MDT Design still makes everything on site behind the Collins Street boutique. Watching a jeweller work a piece by hand is one of those small Melbourne things worth stopping for.

The next generation steps up

In 2003, Nicholas’s son Kosta did what his father had done and started his own apprenticeship at MDT Design. Same deal. Traditional methods, by hand. He qualified as a jeweller, then as a diamond grader, and built up his expertise across design, manufacturing and gemstones. In 2019 he became co-owner and Managing Director alongside his father, steering the business into its next chapter.

His brother Steven joined in 2010 and runs much of the marketing, digital and online side. Their sister Ellen came in in 2019 and works in administration. Three siblings, three sets of skills, one family name over the door. Greeks call that kind of pride in your work and your name filotimo, the sense of honour that makes you do right by the people who built the thing before you. It’s all over this family.

Why they still make everything by hand

Here’s the thing about MDT Design. Most of the trade long ago moved to computer-aided design, casting and outsourced manufacturing, because it’s faster and cheaper. MDT Design didn’t. Behind the Collins Street boutique sits a working jewellery workshop where the team still makes engagement rings, wedding rings and fine jewellery by working the metal by hand.

It takes more skill, more patience and more years than the shortcut does. The payoff is a piece built to be an heirloom, something that outlives the occasion it was made for. There’s a Greek word for this too, meraki, doing something with so much love and care that you leave a bit of yourself in it. That’s what the bench is for. It’s where knowledge gets handed from one generation to the next, and where decades of experience end up inside the jewellery itself.

The awards, and what they don’t change

The family’s designs have pulled in major Australian jewellery awards going back to 1997, including Pente in 2017, Xenya in 2019, and Susta in 2025. Not bad for a workshop that refuses to cut corners.

What’s telling is what the awards haven’t changed. MDT Design is still owned and run by the Theochari family, with their on-site designers and jewellers beside them. The trophies sit on the shelf. The measure is still the next ring they make.

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45 years on Collins Street

As MDT Design marks its 45th anniversary in 2026, the Theochari story reads like a lot of the best Greek-Australian ones. Opportunity taken, work put in, the thing passed down intact. From a 21-year-old with a wholesale manufacturing business to a Collins Street boutique run by two generations of the same family, it’s a small, concrete piece of the contribution Greek and Cypriot families have made to Melbourne.

And after 45 years the commitment hasn’t moved. Beautiful jewellery, made entirely by hand, right here. You can see the current collection and the workshop story on the MDT Design website.

For the wider history of how families like the Theocharis reshaped the city, Museums Victoria’s Immigration Museum is a good place to start, and if the Cypriot side has you curious about the island itself, Visit Cyprus is the official tourism board.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns MDT Design?

MDT Design is owned and run by the Theochari family. Nicholas Theochari founded the business in 1981, and today he works alongside his three children. Kosta is co-owner and Managing Director, Steven runs marketing and the digital side, and Ellen works in administration.

Where is MDT Design located?

MDT Design has a boutique in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD, on Collins Street. Behind the boutique is a working jewellery workshop where the team makes engagement rings, wedding rings and fine jewellery on site.

What does MDT stand for?

MDT stands for Melbourne Diamond Traders, the name of the family’s first retail store, which opened on Bourke Street in 1988. In 1992 the business became MDT Design, adding Design to reflect its focus on original custom jewellery.

Does MDT Design make jewellery by hand?

Yes. Rather than relying on computer-aided design, casting or outsourced manufacturing, MDT Design works precious metals by hand in its Collins Street workshop. It’s a slower, more skilled approach that’s built to produce heirloom pieces.

When was MDT Design founded?

Nicholas Theochari founded MDT Design as a wholesale jewellery manufacturing business in the Melbourne CBD in 1981, when he was 21. The business celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2026.

What awards has MDT Design won?

The family’s designs have won major Australian jewellery awards dating back to 1997, including Pente in 2017, Xenya in 2019 and Susta in 2025.