Irene Griegst (born 1945) is a Moroccan-born Danish
goldsmith
A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...
and
jewellery designer
Jewellery design is the art or profession of designing and creating jewellery. It is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7,000 years to the oldest-known human societies in Indus Valley Civilization, Mesopota ...
. While studying in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
in the 1960s, she met the Danish jeweller Arje Griegst (1938–2016); they married in 1967. Working together with her husband, she has designed diadems, necklaces and earrings incorporating gemstones, pearls and gold. Her work has been widely exhibited in Denmark and abroad.
Biography
Born in
Casablanca
Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...
on 15 June 1945, from an early age Irene embroidered clothes for Moroccan women.
After graduating in English and French literature at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
, she went on to study at the
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design () is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldest institution of higher education and is considered the ...
, specializing in
enameling
Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word ''vitreous'' comes ...
.
[ While in Jerusalem, she met and married the Danish goldsmith and designer Arje Griegst (1938-2016) who was a teacher at the Bezalel Academy.][ They had two children together, Noam and Lia.
After receiving further training from her husband, from 1978 Irene became an active participant in the company he had set up in Copenhagen the 1960s.][ Her creations in both textiles and jewellery exhibit her familiarity with the traditions of the Orient. Her jewellery consists both of items in gold alone or in gold combined with gemstones, pearls, enamel or coral, frequently displaying flowers, leaves and insects. She looks back at her days as an embroiderer in Casablanca, commenting: "I sew my jewellery with gold thread." Her works extend from necklaces and bracelets to diadems which may appear old-fashioned but have become popular with Scandinavians as they provide flowers to decorate their hair.][
Griegst's work is exhibited widely in Denmark and abroad, in particular at the Danish Design Museum, the ]Danish Arts Foundation The Danish Arts Foundation ( Danish: Statens Kunstfond) is the principal Danish government funded arts foundation founded by a special Law on 27 May 1964.
Statens Kunstfond alongside the :da:Statens Kunstråd (English sometimes State Arts Council ...
and the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg, Sweden.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griegst, Irene
1945 births
Living people
People from Casablanca
Danish jewellers
Danish goldsmiths
20th-century Danish metalsmiths
21st-century Danish metalsmiths
Danish women artists
Danish embroiderers
Women jewellers