We sat down with Fin Matson, our co-founder, and asked him some questions.

Since you started Yoreh, are you still a photographer?

Photography is still a huge part of my life and my absolute passion, but I guess it depends on how you define a photographer. If you mean shooting commercially, then that has definitely slowed down quite a lot since I started Yoreh, but I still take on a job here and there. I do a lot of personal shoots and basically never leave the house without my camera, and a big part of my role at Yoreh involves creating images, so I still shoot a lot.

What direction do you see your photography go?

I'm really trying to step away from these perfect travel images, especially since starting Yoreh. Over the years, I tried to perfect everything I shot, but at some point, my images no longer made me feel anything. And that was a turning point for me, and I kinda began again from the beginning. For example, I recently started shooting everything on a film camera, which has slowed me down a lot and made me reconsider everything way more before I shoot. Moving forward, I love absolutely shooting for Yoreh and I hope to create a photo and poetry book, but right now, I'm very busy building Yoreh, so that's more of a 2 to 3-year plan.

Why made you start a jewelry brand?

Well, the main reason is that I couldn’t find any rings I liked, so I decided to make my own haha. But it all actually started way earlier, when I was 11 or 12, taking a silversmith class with my grandma. I made my first rings and gave one to a girl at the time haha. When I came to Bali in 2017, I struggled to find rings I liked and also always dreamed of having my own brand. I actually started a clothing brand at 16 but didn't pursue it for some reason. Moving to Bali in 2022, I really graved another creative project besides photography and decided to create my own jewelry. Bali is also one of the best places to make jewelry, so it was kinda an obvious decision. And then, after meeting my business partner Matt, everything started to fall into place quite quickly.

Tell us more about the moon rock

Well, the moon rock was an idea I had quite early in my jewelry-making journey, as I always had quite a special connection to the moon. Actually, photography got me into that at first, as I had a little passion for shooting the full moon every month, which kind of helped me through a tough time in my life and gave me a lot back then, so having that connection to the moon has always been there. So combining this connection with the jewelry seemed perfect to me.

In practice, though, it created quite a lot of problems, especially trying to find real moon rock and bringing it to Bali. It has been quite a journey, not to speak about trying to polish and cut the moon rock into the different pieces. But I’m very glad we could figure out a way to do it and now share this passion and connection with more people.

What are the future plans for Yoreh?

Oh well haha, the plans are endless, but I am currently working on a few new designs, which I’m very excited about as I learned so much through designing and producing the first one and second collection, and I can’t wait to get it out. Also, building our Yoreh Collective has been such a great experience, so building that out further is something I’m really looking forward to. Apart from that, we are trying to connect with more creatives and artists to create more beautiful art that involves Yoreh, and obviously, there’s always a lot going on in our art café in Bali.

And yourself?

I just renovated my place here in Bali and my girlfriend moved over from Japan. We are living together with our dog Baloo and I really enjoyed a simple life over the next little while. I don’t have any big plans apart from building Yoreh which has been one of my favourite  projects to date and I'm stoked on it every day.

I’m really looking forward to shooting our next big campaign, most likely in the States again. It will require a lot of preparation, so it’s still a little while away, but I’m already super excited!

Plans of opening another House of Yoreh?

Maybe ;)

Favourite song right now?

Brian Jonestown Massacre- Wisdom 

What’s the best part about Yoreh?

I guess all the amazing and creative people I could connect with over the last year, starting with my business partner Matt, but also the models, photographers, and videographers that we worked with and created amazing stuff with, such as our first campaign in California. I think building these connections and lifelong friendships that have come from it is just absolutely amazing.

____________________________________________