Gems Log

Andrew Grima, whose jewelry adorned royalty and celebrities, has died, relatives said Saturday. He was 86.

Grima died Wednesday at a hospital in the Swiss mountain resort of Gstaad after contracting pneumonia following a fall earlier this month, his family said.

Born to a Maltese father and an Italian mother in Rome in 1921, Grima came to prominence in the 1960s with a flowery and organic style that captured the mood of a new generation of postwar fashion designers.

“When he started, jewelry was a very different thing — small, precious stuff,” his second wife, Jojo Grima, told The Associated Press. “He went straight the other way.”

“At that time everything was pretty representative,” she said. “There were bows, there were bees, there were little dogs. Andrew used a lot of rough stones and he made large pieces. It was a completely different philosophy.”

One of those who took an interest early on in Grima’s work was Lord Snowdon, then married to Britain’s Princess Margaret.

“Lord Snowdon had written an article in the paper saying that there was nothing exciting in jewelry,” Grima’s wife said. “My husband called and said, ‘Would you like to come and see my workshop,’ and they became good friends.”

The Snowdon connection as well as numerous prizes Grima received for his work during the 1960s earned him a coveted royal warrant as a supplier of jewelry to the British royal family.

Among the pieces he made was a ruby, diamond and gold brooch given to Queen Elizabeth II by her husband Prince Philip and worn during her televised Christmas Day speech this year, a day before Grima’s death.

Other customers included former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Onassis, actress Ursula Andress and sculptor Barbara Hepworth.

Grima, who never formally trained as a jeweler, joined H.J. Company, owned by his first wife’s father, after the war, during which he had spent five years in Burma and India with the Royal Engineers.

He first worked as an administrator, but one day persuaded his then father-in-law to buy a suitcase full of semiprecious stones from a pair of Brazilian dealers so that he could try his hand at designing a new kind of jewelry.

“He basically was always an artist, but because he had never been formally trained he was able to change the look of jewelry in a way that others couldn’t,” his wife said.

Bonhams, which held a special auction of some of his work in 2006, described Grima as a designer who revolutionized his craft and “changed the way jewelry was looked at and worn by the public.”

Among the items most sought-after by collectors are 80 unique watches created in 1969 for Omega, and several solid gold LED — or digital — watches that were commissioned by Pulsar.

Grima moved with his family to Switzerland in 1986 following the sale of his flagship store on London’s prestigious Jermyn street.

Besides his wife, Grima is also survived by a daughter, Francesca, as well as his first wife, Helene Haller, and three children from that marriage, Madeleine, Carole and Philip.

His funeral will be held in Gstaad on Jan. 3. A memorial service in London is planned at the end of May, his wife said.

ROYAL JEWELER ANDREW GRIMA DIES AT AGE 86

Andrew Grima, whose award-winning jewelry pieces were commissioned by British royalty, has passed away in Switzerland at the age of 86.

Born in Rome in 1921, Grima established himself as a prominent jewelry designer during the 1960s, winning 12 De Beers Diamond International Awards for his jewelry pieces. His post-war jewelry designs during this decade stood out amid the jewelry trend of conformity. As Grima’s second wife, Jojo Grima, told The Associated Press, “At that time, everything was pretty representative. There were bows, there were bees, there were little dogs. Andrew used a lot of rough stones and he made larger pieces. It was a completely different philosophy.”

Grima’s work caught the eye of Lord Snowdon, then married to Britain’s Princess Margaret. This connection as well as the above-mentioned awards, earned Grima a royal warrant as a supplier of jewelry to the British royal family in 1996. Grima held the royal warrant for 20 years, until he moved to Switzerland in 1986.

Throughout that time, Grima was commissioned by the Queen Mother, Princess Maragert, Princess Anne, The Duke of Edinburgh, British artist Barbara Hepworth and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Among the pieces he made was ruby, diamond and gold brooch give to Queen Elizabeth II by her husband Prince Philip and worn during her televised Christmas Day speech this year, a day before Grima’s death.

Grima started in the jewelry design business without any formal training as a jeweler. After the second World War, he joined his future father-in-law’s jewelry business in London as an administrator before experimenting with jewelry design. In 1969, Grima was commissioned by Omega to create a collection of watches, later known as About Time. In the 1970s, Grima opened galleries in New York, Sydney and Tokyo.