Arje Griegst was the son of goldsmith and engraver Baruch Griegst, who came to Denmark from Lithuania in around 1900. Following in his father’s footsteps, Griest was trained by the silversmith and artist Just Andersen in 1960. After four years of running his own workshop, he showed Georg Jensen’s legendary boss, Anders Hostrup-Pedersen, a series of sketches for rings in a completely new style. Griegst’s imaginative work was inspired by nature, the ancient Greeks, Gaudi and the infinite universe. To achieve greater artistic freedom in his work, he used the ancient ‘cire perdue’ technique.
Arje Griegst Jewellery
His opulent and enchanting style became his hallmark, setting him apart from the otherwise stringent Scandinavian design tradition. He also liked to draw inspiration from historical jewellery. With its organic curves, swirling gold spirals, faces and bodies transforming into garlands and trees, his style is closer to Baroque or Art Nouveau. The free form and modelled motifs with the use of stones and pearls recreated a richness not seen since Art Nouveau. The majority of Arje Griegst jewellery was made as a one-off.
Konkylie and Spira
Organic forms also characterise Griegst’s tableware design for Holmegaard Glasværker, the Konkylie dinner service (1974–76), produced by Royal Copenhagen from 1978, a gilded flower diadem for Queen Margrethe (1977) and the Spira cutlery (1971–80) for Georg Jensen. He designed a small fountain for Tivoli in Copenhagen in 1989, and an elegant chandelier for the banquet hall at Design Museum Denmark in 2003. Arje Griegst was awarded the Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal in 1983. His creations are today represented at several renowned museums around the world, including Design Museum Denmark, Nationalmuseum
