Artist Profile: Cass DiMicco and Matthew Hoyle Want to Change Luxury Jewelry

Aureum Collective, founded by Cass DiMicco and Matthew L. Hoyle ’13, is a jewelry brand combining high quality metals with timelessly beautiful designs to create pieces that exude luxury and versatility. Hailing from backgrounds in fashion and finance, respectively, DiMicco and Hoyle decided to pursue their passion for design, marketing, and direct consumer interaction in 2019 by founding Aureum Collective. In a recent Zoom interview with The Harvard Crimson, the pair sat down to discuss their growing brand.

DiMicco and Hoyle were excited to talk about what inspired Aureum’s founding and what makes the brand stand out. Motivated by a hole they saw in the market, DiMicco and Hoyle wanted to create pieces that had a “high-fashion feel at a more accessible price point.” Hoyle emphasized on the Zoom call how 24-carat gold wasn’t prevalent in pieces they saw from other brands.

“It’s kind of like our brand ethos, it differentiates ourselves and really stands out when people wear it,” Hoyle said of their use of material.

According to DiMicco and Hoyle, Customer feedback is at the core of Aureum’s values. The brand launched in September of 2019 with an eight-piece collection, a short five months from its initial conception. Hoyle said this quick turnaround was made possible by direct communication with customers. “We really had this direct feedback that we used to design the pieces and design the company itself,” he said.

DiMicco left her corporate job several years prior to Aureum’s founding to become a full-time influencer. Around the same time, Hoyle left his finance job, giving the pair time to focus on getting the brand off the ground. Their experiences in fashion influencing and finance, while not directly related to their current work, helped DiMicco and Hoyle find their true passions and set them on this path. “It gave us a specific bit of professionalism, and working in a corporate environment helps when starting to run a company,” DiMicco said.

Aureum’s jewelry is a unique combination of effortless classical style and modern trends that remain wearable for months and years to come. When asked about design influences for Aureum’s pieces, DiMicco said her and Hoyle took inspiration from a variety of sources, from high-end fashion to trending time periods or colors to even the furniture in DiMicco’s home.

Though Aureum has seen success since its launch, DiMicco described the challenges they’ve faced finding people to join their team. While Hoyle and DiMicco have been at the helm since Aureum’s inception, giving up total control and hiring a team has been a difficult but necessary step. “Matt and I really pour our heart and soul into Aureum and work like seven days a week,” she said. “So finding people that will maybe share even just a fraction of that passion for it has been difficult,” DiMicco said.

Social media has also been invaluable to Aureum’s success. DiMicco has always wanted to start a brand and envisioned social media being a key part of that brand’s marketing. Of the brand’s aesthetics, DiMicco said, “We always put a lot of effort into what our packaging looks like and the unboxing, because we’ve had so many people who will share the unboxing of their Aureum products and it’s nice to have a more personable touch to everything we do.”

DiMicco and Hoyle are quite proud of the community that they’ve created through Aureum. Going beyond influencers, celebrities, and models, Aureum caters to a wider audience and encourages active engagement over social media.

Looking to the future, DiMicco said Aureum is in search of companies to do co-branded products and social shoots with. Hoyle and DiMicco hope to expand into categories beyond jewelry with brands that share their values.

Quality, style, and community are at the heart of Aureum Collective, making up the brand’s past, present, and undoubtedly its future. For now, readers can check out DiMicco’s Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok for more information on her work.

—Staff writer Anna Moiseieva can be reached at anna.moiseieva@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AMoiseieva