Andrew Grima

Andrew Grima ( born May 31, 1921 in Rome, † 26 December 2007 Gstaad) was a British jewelery designers. He designed his jewelry among other things, for the British royal family.

Life

Andrew Grima was born in 1921 in Rome. For professional jewelery designer he came in 1946, after nearly five years as an engineer at the seventh Indian Division in Burma. He then joined the jewelry business of his future father- in London, where he took over the responsibility for jewelery design.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he became a leading designer in the West End of London and sold his unique pieces in an exclusive gallery in Knightsbridge. He opened a shop in Jermyn Street in the heart of London, and in 1966 he received the royal promise for jewelry supplies for twenty years until he moved to Switzerland in 1986. During this time have him the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, The Duke of Edinburgh, Barbara Hepworth and Jacqueline Onassis commissioned to design jewelry.

1969 got Anrew Grima Omega the contract to design a new watch collection, which became known as " About Time ". In the 1970s, Andrew Grima opened galleries in New York, Sydney and Tokyo. 1974 Grima was approached by an agent of the Time Computer Inc., to create a Pulsar LED watches line. He designed a small series of watches, twelve of them were produced, eleven in 18 carat gold and sterling silver.

Working

The name Grima won with the fine jewelry great recognition at the international exhibition of jewelery in 1961. His distinctive designs made ​​from precious metals such as 18 karat gold and platinum were characterized by structured, organic and seemingly random abstract shapes. The jewelry pieces made ​​in the 1960s and 1970s until today are often copied. Pieces of Grima are always stamped with AG or GRIMA and sought after by collectors.

Grima was interested in the organic jewelry designs and decided early to avoid the shapes and materials of the classic adornment designs. His work has focused on exotic stones, beads or granular quartz crystals whose optical effect had more weight than their true value. Gems, if necessary, were incorporated as an integral unit in the jewelry and not seen as the center.

He also experimented with objects from nature. He walked as a piece of lichen, which was sent to him by HRH Princess Margaret, with yellow gold covered with brilliant cut diamonds into a brooch. He also designed leaves and other natural objects, which were the basis of many of his earlier drafts. These materials and methods were his trademark. Today his wife Jojo and daughter Francesca jewelry design in the Gstaad business. In addition, there is an exhibition in London every half a year.

Awards

In the 1960s, Andrew Grima won twelve De Beers Diamond International Awards.