It was something grandiose like ‘Turning hotel stays into more than just memories’ that got scribbled in a notebook somewhere during the tail-end of lockdown longing that became the loose principle behind our sporadic artist-not-in-residence series.
The idea being that if we can’t quite provide mentally fatigued creatives with a full months-long stint in a suite somewhere, we could, at least, pair artist with hotel muse for a dose of straight-up inspiration.
This being a creative endeavour, mind, it’s something that happens when it happens, when the moment seems right. As it did some months back in conversation with jeweller Francesca Grima.
Francesca, and her mother, Jojo, have helmed the eponymous Grima jewellery since her father, Andrew, passed in 2007. By the Sixties, Andrew had propelled Grima to its place as the go-to jewellers for royalty, high society, and anyone who wanted to stand out, thanks to its sculptural, abstract one-off pieces. The industry’s highest accolade, the De Beers Diamonds International Award, was bestowed a record 11 times and his work remains in the V&A’s collection.
Skip forward to today and you’d be hard pushed to find a fashion-glossy editorial not enlivened by one of Francesca’s designs – sported by Gisele Bündchen, Kate Moss, and Emma Thompson in recent Vogue issues alone – and the late Queen was a noted fan. But producing upwards of 30 unique pieces a year can take its toll.
‘My usual inspiration would be a stone, so we have dealers from Germany who come to us and if there’s a stone that speaks to me I’ll design around it,’ Grima explained when speaking about her usual ‘process’.
But keen for a reset, and a rest, we got talking about the merits of sun, sea, and abrupt scene changes. Holidays in the south of France were an important part of her childhood so when the name Les Roches Rouges was mentioned – it of iconic Slim Aarons-ish coastal pool and designer’s dream interiors – it felt like our muse was found; what it might inspire was something of a freeing mystery.
‘There were so many things I could’ve been inspired by. The lobby and the entrance of that hotel, as soon as you come in, there’s such a great atmosphere…’
‘I was thinking at one point to go for the actual red rocks and to find some red rock, and then I thought maybe that’s just a bit too clichéd.’
‘But seeing the sea through the railings, and then that coffee table in front of the De Sede sofa, that’s when it all just came together.
And ‘it’ turned out to be a pair of multi-levelled, piercingly Med-blue statement earrings excitedly unveiled on our recent return visit to the Grima studio.
‘[It began as] an initial sketch. I wasn’t sure at first that they were going to be earrings; I was thinking more a pendant. But then I decided that the earrings would work so much better. I wanted them to have different levels and be three-dimensional. What’s great about them is that I’ve not really used enamel in my work at all but I wanted something that was really summery so that’s why I chose it.’
If any piece of jewellery can immediately transport you poolside on the French Riviera, it’s this. I ask Francesca how much easier it was to put pencil to sketchpad when there’s a cold cocktail in the other hand and endless views of the Mediterranean in front of you.
‘I think when your mind is fresh and there’s less stress, inspiration does come, and flow, much more naturally. Designing without a stone is a lot more challenging. But also a lot more fun – I love a challenge.’
And if the aim is for hotel stays to create more than just memories, this instalment brought some of those too.
‘It really took me back, even just arriving at Nice airport. There was something beautiful – and a bit sad – about it, as well, because it was my childhood spent with my father, so it did add that extra layer.’
Anything, really, could’ve come out of this process – that’s mostly the point – but there’s a real romance to having the spirit, rather than any literal motif, of a true hotel lover’s hotel captured in real-life, three-dimensional objects. Plus they’re guaranteed to turn heads whenever they’re worn.
‘I’d happily go back there wearing them,’ says Grima. It would certainly make all those ‘Where did you get those earrings?!’ enquiries an opportunity to tell a pretty good story. Who knows, maybe they’ll provide some inspiration for other guests…
Find out more about Les Roches Rouges, and discover the work of Grima jewellery
Francesca Grima was a guest of Mr & Mrs Smith and Beaumier hotels. Photography by Hannah Dace and Francesca Grima