At several paparazzi-worthy events over the last few months, actors such as Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie have been photographed wearing pieces from a brand far less well known than the usual red carpet names: the jewelry brand Didris.
It was introduced last year by Damson Idris, a founder of the line and Mr. Pitt’s co-star in “F1: The Movie.” (He also starred in the FX TV series “Snowfall.”) Mr. Idris has been wearing designs from the line too, both casually and at high-profile functions such as this year’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit, better known as the Met Gala, which was essentially the brand’s public debut.
“I never wanted to make a line that consisted of pieces that I wasn’t excited about and I wouldn’t wear in my everyday life,” he said, adding that he hopes it will become as popular as brands like Cartier and Chopard.
So along with acting, his daily life now includes spreading the word about Didris, especially to his A-list colleagues: “It’s so organic because I’m wearing it and they’re like, ‘That’s such a beautiful necklace.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh really? I designed this.’
“They’re following my career. I’m still on the rise. They’re interested in that, but they also really appreciate the fact that I’m already thinking in a legacy way.”
Mr. Idris, 34, was interviewed at a members’ club in West Hollywood, several miles from his home in Los Angeles. Although he was raised in London’s Peckham neighborhood and still keeps an apartment in that city, he lives primarily in Los Angeles, the home of Didris’s two other founders: Stephanie Moy, his manager, and Stephen Ready, an entrepreneur and a founder of Inspired, which matches companies with charities.
Didris’s inaugural line, sold only through its website, has 18-karat gold pieces ranging from the Thin Ring, with an embedded striped pattern ($3,750), to the Monogram Cuff, with 24 diamonds and 12 emeralds ($58,570).
The collection differs from other celebrity-affiliated brands that offer inexpensive mass-produced pieces. “The issue I had with anyone who has a platform who’s making jewelry is they often try and mass produce these cheaply made pieces, lab-grown diamonds, whatever it may be,” Mr. Idris said. “I wanted to do something that I could wear, my peers would wear and eventually grow a business.”
The actor said that he was deeply involved with every element of the brand, including initial design ideas, tweaking prototypes and calls at almost any hour with Alice Cicolini, the London jeweler who works with him on designs and creates the technical drawings used by artisans in Mumbai, India, to execute each piece. (As the brand evolves, he plans to collaborate with other designers too.)
A collection of less-expensive items, labeled ready-to-wear on the website, were introduced in mid-August and are expected to ship this month. It incorporated motifs from the main collection — a $1,750 ring inspired by the brooch Mr. Idris wore on his jacket lapel to the Met Gala, for example — made in 18-karat gold and with gems such as emeralds and tourmalines. Prices start at $1,200.
Mr. Idris decided to introduce the lower-priced collection so, as he put it, “everyone could be a part of it. I remember when I bought my first Cartier Love ring: it came in different levels of grams, with the level of gold. You had the thin love ring, you had the thicker one, you had silver, you had rose gold. But everyone that wears that feels the same: ‘I’m wearing a Cartier Love ring.’”
His appreciation of fine jewelry, he said, began in childhood (As did his brand’s name: Didris was his PlayStation 5 handle). “I always was in love with jewelry,” he said, “and it’s all because of my mother.”
His mother, Silifat Idris, bought and sold gold in her native Nigeria. Later, when she worked as a hotel housekeeper in London’s Knightsbridge district while raising Mr. Idris and his five siblings, she often would window shop for jewelry at Harrods after work.
She still occasionally sold gold, and also wore it. “Even growing up in inner city London, I’d come downstairs and there’d be a bunch of people in the living room, and my mother dressed to the nines in jewelry,” Mr. Idris recalled.
Mr. Idris said that he started thinking about a side business a couple of years ago when the union representing TV and movie actors went on strike. He and Ms. Moy considered a rum company, but his connection with jewelry proved too resonant to ignore. And some of Didris’s design details reflect that link, including a distinctive six-prong setting on diamond stud earrings that represent his mother’s six children. “Everything is story,” he said, “and it’s better if the story’s true.”
Experts agree. As consumers, “we do care about authenticity,” said Michael Platt, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and an expert on the impact of celebrity endorsements.
He added that Mr. Didris appeared to be taking the right steps “to make the brand stand out, to make it authentic, to make it appealing, to tap into our need to learn from stories as a mechanism for collecting.”
The enthusiasm of Didris’s supporters also seems genuine. Mr. Pitt wore the Didris Wide Ring with diamonds at the “F1” premiere in London in June and, Mr. Idris said, “He was like, ‘Did you see me on the carpet? I just kept waving my hand so they could see the ring.’”
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