Patricia Candido

Patricia Candido was a jewelry label founded by Brazilian-born designer Patricia Candido, whose Brazilian-influenced designs caught the eye of American celebrities soon after the brand's launch in summer 2004. Halle Berry bought every Candido-created item in one store and gave them to the cast and crew of her ABC telefilm Their Eyes Were Watching God; Barbra Streisand wore a Candido choker in the finale wedding scene of Meet the Fockers. The label was represented for product placement by B|W|R PPI.

No current source confirms the label's present-day activity, so the record below is given in the past tense.

Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not this designer’s own work.

Company Profile

Each Patricia Candido creation incorporated natural elements and vibrant colours reminiscent of her native Brazil. Beginning with precious stones, gold and silver, she combined them with organic materials such as feathers, bamboo and lambskin — and where others set gemstones in leather, she used braided cotton cord denim. Her creations, from a signature collection of 10 to 20 pieces to custom-made designs, retailed between $55 and $750. In less than two years the brand was featured on the covers and in the pages of Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, Lucky, Variety, Fitness and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications, and wearers included Kelsey Grammer, Linda Hamilton, Rosanna Arquette, Alyssa Milano and supermodels Cindy Crawford and Brooke Burke.

Raised largely in Rio de Janeiro, Candido first worked in public relations, servicing major companies in Brazil's petrochemical industry, then opened her own agency focusing on telecommunications, with clients that included Bell South, Dow Chemical and Kodak. She met her American husband, visual effects artist Mark Devlin, while he was in Brazil making music videos. Returning to the United States together, Candido chose a new career combining her love of art and fashion, and her Brazilian jewelry designs were born in summer 2004, with Devlin serving as the venture's director of sales and marketing.

From those beginnings, the designs were distributed worldwide: from boutiques in Southern California such as Fred Segal to Margaret O'Leary in New York City, from stores in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Aspen, Vail, Dallas, Austin and Houston to Japan, China and Hong Kong. The company planned its own branded stores and an expansion into Brazilian-influenced shoes, belts, bags and accessories. There is a pleasing symmetry in the story: a public relations professional who became a designer, represented in turn by a PR firm — and researchers can find more designers through the Designer Search directory.

Candido's material choices were the signature: gemstones carry formality, while feathers, bamboo and lambskin keep a piece light, warm and wearable against skin and clothing. Braided cotton cord in place of leather was both a construction decision and a look — softer, more textile, unmistakably hers. It is the kind of recognisable hand that stylists can place from across a showroom, which is what makes a young jewelry label placeable.