Formerly manager of the capital's football club, Romain Grunstein was introduced to mate through the Parisian locker room.
He fell in love with the drink and the ritual and decided in 2017 to offer high-end gourds to those around him through his company Mateador .
Subsequently, his gourds for mate attracted many professional players.
Summary
From Matador to Mateador
During the 4 years spent in a big Parisian football club, Romain Grunstein was fascinated by the pre-match ritual of South American footballers. “They entered their bubble by preparing their mate, this preparation allowed them to concentrate and release the pre-match stress”
One day, curious to discover what was hidden behind this preparation, he asked Matador Cavani to taste the preparation. Very surprised by the infusion at first, he quickly converted to become a complete fan of mate . “The first sips are very surprising, mate has a very particular flavor that we are not used to in Europe. But the palate acclimatizes quite quickly, after that, we can't do without it!”
It was with the support and encouragement of Cavani, Di Maria, Lavezzi and others that Romain embarked on the Mateador adventure.
“A player once told me a sentence that struck me: it was a comparison between coffee and mate. Drinking mate in a poor quality gourd is like drinking a coffee capsule in a plastic cup .”
It was accompanied by Cavani and his family that Romain made the journey to discover the culture of mate . During these moments of sharing, he was able to meet the best artisans who still accompany him today.
Back in France, rich with new friends and sharpened knowledge, Romain threw himself fully into the Mateador adventure .
The success of artisanal gourds
An Imperial Mate Calabash
It didn't take long for the famous artisanal mate gourds to make headlines. The quality, the know-how in making them and their uniqueness make them true works of art.
Word of mouth quickly spread about Mateador's gourds , and many South Americans quickly contacted him to find in Europe a piece of typically Latin American culture and craftsmanship.
Romain shares with us a memorable encounter with one of his idols:
“It’s crazy, when I was little, I was a fan of Riquelme for his style of playing, which I can find today at Pastore. He did us the honor with his brother of asking me to make a personalized calabash. I was delighted and very honored by the trust that was placed in me”
Since then, Mateador has been present in almost every locker room in Europe and a multitude of athletes have already called upon his services. The list is long (too long) to share with you, so if you want to have a preview, go take a look at the @mateador account!
So much so that during the 2018 World Cup, no fewer than 18 players from different national teams proudly displayed a gourd signed Mateador, and in the final, both teams were also equipped with a magnificent gourd!
A personalized gourd for Antoine Griezmann
The cherry on the cake is that you can even see a gourd in the Argentine team 's spot.
A few months later, it was the consecration. Lionel Messi himself sports a sumptuous Mateador gourd, personalized with talent by Hza_Custom .
“I am very happy to have been able to work on such a project, but I am even happier for the family in Argentina who made it, for them it is exceptional”
This influence has increased the number of requests for calabash customization. Today, the waiting list is long, but how can we not wait for these works of art ?
Press articles about Mateador
If you want to learn more about Mateador, you can find several articles from Le Parisien , Konbini , Street Press , Goal and Ouest France
