About Me
Matthew Joseph "Majo" Martin is an American émigré to Indonesia with an interest in classic menswear across Western and Eastern traditions. His interests tend toward all manner of products that are functional excellently and reward repair.
I’m an American living in Indonesia. I’ve been here for over a decade.
Menswear
I’m exploring classic menswear across Western and Eastern traditions. I wrote a Menswear Manifesto.
In both Christian and Islamic traditions, dress has long been understood as a matter of dignity rather than display. Cleanliness, propriety, and care in appearance are not vanity but expressions of self-respect and respect for others—an outward discipline that reflects inward order. Clothing is meant to conceal faults, honor the body, and signal seriousness of intent.
Against this backdrop, much of modern dress reads as abdication of a shared responsibility. The drift is not toward freedom, but toward vulgarity by neglect. What is lost is not elegance for its own sake but a loss of dignity rooted in care, restraint, and accountability. To dress well, in this sense, is not to perform status, but to refuse neglect.
The Prophet ﷺ said, "No one will enter Paradise who has an atom's weight of pride in his heart." A man said, "What if a man likes his clothes to look good and his shoes to look good?" He said, "Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Pride means denying the truth and looking down on people." [Sahih Muslim #131]
The Prophet ﷺ saw [Abu'l-Ahwas al-Jashami] wearing old, tattered clothes, and asked him, "Do you have any wealth?" I said, "Yes." He said, "What kind of wealth?" I said, "All that Allah has given me of camels and sheep." He said, "Then show the generous blessings that He has given you." [Sahih Ahmad, Sahih Tirmidhi, & Sahih Nisa'i]
Words, Language, & Meaning
I speak both English and Indonesian. Language is never neutral; it carries assumptions, histories, and values that shift as it crosses borders. To move between traditions is to learn that meaning is not fixed but negotiated, and that fluency is less about vocabulary than about context.
My interest in language mirrors my interest in objects and dress: forms that speak before they are explained, and whose misuse reveals misunderstanding as clearly as misuse of words.
Building & Making
I like to create things. I previously founded a venture-capital backed Islamic Finance marketplace called Blossom Finance. These days I’m hand-sewing neckties. As a Software Engineer by trade, I never stop tinkering. These days I’m working on a LEGO Duplo train IoT project for kids.
Stuff Worth Owning
I believe in thoughtful living. I’m interested in well-made products worth owning and that reward repair.
“…But waste not by excess, for Allah does not love the wasters” — Al Qu’ran [6:141]
Islam & Faith
I sometimes share thoughts as a beginning student of sacred knowledge, especially based on my observations of Indonesian Muslim society.