Noam Griegst, owner of Griegst

WHITEbIRD is honoured to welcome, in a French exclusive, the artist jewels of maison Griegst. There are universes one can only enter wide-eyed.That of Arje Griegst (1938–2016) is one of them: an unclassifiable Danish artist who turned jewellery into a language of free forms and embodied dreams.

In the 1960s, while Scandinavian design celebrated restraint, he chose excess. With an aesthetic reminiscent of Dalí or Gaudí, his creations molten rings, spirals of light, liquid faces seem to rise from a mythological world where matter itself comes alive.

Arje Griegst's work goes beyond jewellery and evokes an alchemist’s dream: to reveal the hidden energy of things.

In 2016, his son, Noam Griegst, took up the thread of this odyssey, bringing his father’s universe back to life. A photographer and now artistic director of the maison Griegst, he is not merely the heir to a visionary artist, he is the guardian and adventurer of a timeless world. A conversation with the man who continues to let art, magic, and jewellery converse as one.

1.Could you describe your father’s universe to those discovering his work for the first time?

Describing the universe of Griegst is more or less like trying to describe the mystery of the universe itself, but I think that Griegst’s works are a translation of the magical wonders of nature, fairy tales, myths from Greek mythology and Danish fairy tales. Our jewellery is a tribute to all of this.

2.You’ve described his style as “baroque-punk,” and your father as a “bad boy designer.” Could you tell us more about that?

I think that when you have a vision that is so strong and possess the ability to create it with your own hands, you somehow also have a desire to show that to the world no matter what the times or design and traditions of the current present dictate. You have to show that there are other ways to create. It took courage for Arje to present his jewellery and opulent baroque world in the late 1960s when everything was and still is very minimalistic. And punk is at heart about being anti-establishment. That’s why we have come up with the term baroque punk.

3.You are now a photographer and the artistic director of the Griegst house. What inspired you to continue this artistic adventure after your parents’ passing?

As a photographer you see many things and meet many different people from all paths of life. It gave me strong visual direction on how I envision my parents’ work and merge my visual take on it and how to carry on its story, inspired by my upbringing and my work in fashion photography over the past 20 years.

4.You grew up surrounded by art and materials. What was your childhood like in the world your parents both artists and jewellers had created?

My upbringing was a beautiful artistic mess. I spent many hours in their workshop listening to loud opera, surrounded by clouds of cigar smoke, precious stones and artefacts. To be honest, at many times as a child I was bored to death by this, and suddenly one day when you grow older you understand the magic of it.

5.How were your father’s creations born? What were the main themes that guided him, and which artists did he admire?

Many of my father’s creations were guided by the spiritual power I think he possessed, and also the freedom he had to create it through his excellent craftsmanship. He admired artists such as Ernst Fuchs, Salvador Dalí and Gaudí. 

6.Arje Griegst worked in gold, glass, porcelain and bronze, going far beyond jewellery to express his art. Could you tell us about the major works in his oeuvre? What do you think united all these forms of expression?

I think jewellery wise it’s the Golden Poppies tiara from 1976 that Arje did for HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is a significant work. It depicts a spring morning in the grass with moonstone dew drops, butterflies with opal wings and spiders in mountain crystal,all carved by hand and assembled in his own workshop.

7.For him, jewellery was never a simple accessory. How did he view the jeweller’s gesture? Did he reject the boundary between art and craftsmanship?

Arje definitely rejected the boundaries between the traditional notions of art and craftsmanship. His jewellery is a physical embodiment of something intangible, which can also be said of art. I think the main objective in Griegst is to somehow dismantle the idea of the perception of jewellery and reassemble it again in its own beauty and right, and to beautify the person wearing it.  

8.Presented at WHITEbIRD alongside the Faces and Cosmos collections, the Spiral line has become emblematic of the Griegst universe. Why do you think these flowing forms resonate so much with people?

The Faces, Cosmos and Spiral collections that we are launching with Whitebird are designs that were created from early 70s to the mid-nineties. They embody all of the elements of fairy tales, spiritual wonders and cosmic fingerprints that Griegst represents. I think these designs are timeless end even modern in my eyes.

9.Some of the pieces shown today were cast from moulds rediscovered in your parents’ studio after their passing. How do you preserve your father’s spirit while opening a new chapter?

There is an overall spirit that I find is important for us today.We treat every piece we unearth from the archives the same way, whether it’s moulds, wax or metal parts. We take it out,we restore it, we take pictures of it, we bring it back to lifethorough modern means, and then you realise that our designs transcend time. They somehow exist outside of time, or beyond time. We have clients from every generation too. 

10.For you, what does it mean to wear a Griegst jewel today?

Today, tomorrow, forever, I see the jewels as pieces of art. Made to adorn the body in beauty as it has been done since ancient times, when our ancestors used jewellery to create, enhance and even protect their lives.  A piece of Griegst jewellery has a talisman-like quality. 

11. Chinese mini-portrait:

If your father were...

A stone: An Opal, like a hidden fire - a capsule in stone

A flower: Griegst’s Flower Bud with a carved opal at its centre

A dish: Oeuf mayonnaise, just because he loved it

A work of art: Salvador Dalí’s The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used as a Table

A book or author: Powers of Ten by Philip Morrison

A place or landscape: Jerusalem, as a spiritual place

Thank you for answering all our questions and welcome to Griegst collection!