Maximilian Hemmerle von Heckel carries a family tradition dating back to 1837 forward in his own work. He founded Maison MXHM in Munich in 2018. In this interview he speaks about his path, his philosophy and the personal collaboration with his clients.

Editorial clarification of 14 September 2026: The year 1837 marks the beginning of the family tradition, not the founding of MXHM. The introduction and the first question have been clarified accordingly.

From heritage to independence

You come from a family with a jewellery tradition dating back to 1837, and you founded MXHM in 2018. How have you dealt with that history and the responsibility that comes with it?

That is a very direct question, and I appreciate it. To be honest: in the beginning, the weight was greater than the romance. My grandfather and my great-grandfather had a clear business, local jewellers working with wealthy Munich clients. My father expanded that, but it remained down to earth. When I started out, I asked myself: do I simply carry this on, or do I make something new of it?

Heritage is only valuable when you transform it, not when you preserve it.

The decision was to transform it. To keep the values (craft, personality, quality) but to change the form fundamentally. MXHM is not a rebrand, it is a reinterpretation.

What does the name actually mean? MXHM, is it simply your name, or is there a concept behind it?

MXHM is my name, Maximilian Hemmerle. But it is not simply an ego trip. The name stands for the fact that every piece leaving our atelier carries responsibility, the responsibility of my name. There are plenty of "jewellers in Munich" and generic jewellery labels out there. MXHM says: this has been thought through. This is personal. This carries a name, and that name is meant as a guarantee.

At the same time, it is deliberately minimalist. Not "Hemmerle Fine Jewellery" or "Atelier Hemmerle Munich", that would be too official, too much heritage. MXHM is modern, it is digital, it is personal. It works just as well on Instagram as on a label inside a ring.

Very personal, what it really means

That is your claim: "very personal fine jewellery". It is a big promise in an industry that often feels impersonal.

It is a deliberately big promise, because it is the one thing I cannot negotiate. There are thousands of jewellers today who will meet you online. But "personal" is often underestimated. It does not mean "I'll pick you up for coffee". It means: I genuinely engage with your story. With what you are looking for, not with what I want to sell.

An example

A client came to me with an old emerald that had belonged to her grandmother. The stone was not large, not especially green, but it had history. Any other jeweller would have said: "That's not valuable enough, let me source a new stone for you." I said: what makes this stone valuable to you? And then we built a piece that does not hide the stone but tells its story.

That is "very personal". It happens when someone makes time for you. Real time. Not five minutes in a showroom, but hours in the atelier. That is luxury today.

You do not work with the big online platforms, you show your work on Instagram, you invite people into your private atelier. That is a deliberate concept, not a coincidence?

One hundred percent deliberate. There is a reason I do not have a large shop and why every conversation with me is by appointment. Because jewellery is not like fashion that you can shop in a rush. A ring you wear becomes part of your identity. That should not happen without leaving a trace.

For me, Instagram is not a sales channel, it is a window. It shows who I am, what I make, how I think about stones and craft. Those who see it and are intrigued then come to me at the atelier. And that is where the real conversation happens.

Craft in the digital age

You are a fifth-generation jeweller, you carry on techniques that are more than a hundred years old. At the same time, you live an entirely digital life. How do those two fit together?

There is no contradiction at all. Digital is a tool, not a philosophy. I use digital tools to reach people who share my philosophy. But in the atelier I still do things the way my great-grandfather did, by hand, with experience, with an understanding of the material.

I can draw up a CAD design in ten minutes. But making a ring that truly sits, truly works, that takes days. And that is not slow, that is quality.

Your clients see you as something of a rock star among jewellers, someone who stands for genuine quality. That is branding too. How do you separate the true soul of the craftsman from the brand identity?

The short answer: I do not separate them, because there is nothing to separate. I am not a persona I can "play". I genuinely am someone who is obsessively interested in stones. I genuinely am willing to spend 40 hours working on a ring. I genuinely am convinced that quality is the only way to build a clientele that stays.

If that comes across as "branding", fine. But it is not staged. It is the opposite of staging. It is authenticity, which only works because it is true.

The future of the craft

Many traditional crafts, jewellery-making among them, are dying out. Young people no longer choose this path. Do you see a future there?

I see two trends. One is that mass production is crushing everything else. Cheap jewels from online marketplaces, mass-produced lab-grown diamonds, 3D-printed "pieces of jewellery", it spoils the market for genuine craftsmen.

But in parallel I see a counter-trend. People are growing tired of excess and oversupply. They want less, but real things. That is my opportunity. Not as a huge business, but as an alternative.

The jeweller's craft has a future, but only as a premium craft, not as a mass craft. Those who are willing to spend ten years learning and to devote their lives to it will make a living. But not with cheap rings.

Where do you see MXHM in ten years?

Not bigger, but better. Not more clients, but the right clients. An atelier that still works from my own hands, in collaboration with perhaps one or two apprentices. Perhaps a second room somewhere, but not as a shop, as an atelier.

And hopefully: a label known around the world because it stands for one thing, genuine quality, genuine personality, genuine craft. Not as a trend, but as a counter-movement to the trend.

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In closing: a personal sentence

When someone comes to your atelier and asks: "Why should I come to you instead of buying a ring online?", what do you say?

I say: because a ring is not something you buy. A ring is something you make with someone who listens to you. And once you have understood that, you also understand why you are here.

If you are curious about MXHM and the philosophy behind it, you are welcome to arrange an appointment.
The atelier in Munich opens by invitation.