Moritz Glik’s Newest Collection Shakes Up Jewelry’s Iconic Classics

I first met Mortiz Glik in 2004 at Jewelry Week in Las Vegas. I was the senior editor for a luxury national jewelry magazine and Paul Schneider-co-owners with his wife Lauren from Twist and Twistonline.com told me there was a designer I needed to meet, walked me over and introduced me to Moritz who was animatedly explaining the collection to another editor. A Brazilian born-bench jeweler with an instinct for innovative compositions, I noticed immediately that Moritz created movement and a fluidity to his designs which distinguished his collection. His sensibility and knowledge of all facets of jewelry construction allowed the diamonds to shimmer when the wearer moved. I understood what Paul had seen in him. When Moritz talks about his collection, he reveals his affable personality and sense of humor combined with and intense focus and ability to understand his clients.

He started out in New York City as a jeweler for other companies and after learning what there was to know about the U.S. jewelry market, he launched his own collection. The first year he did almost everything on his own, from   creating his  models by hand to soldering an entire piece made of chains and diamond bezels together. This ability to have the talent to jump in and work on every aspect of  the creation of a piece was a sign that he had a long future ahead of him.

 I have met many designers in my 20 plus years as a jewelry editor and writer and have watched them grow, change and expand with time. I have had the pleasure of witnessing Moritz’s evolution, from his beginnings to each phase in  development of his collection for  the past 16 years. When I wrote the book Jewelry’s Shining Stars, Moritz’s shaker collection had progressed into color and a combination of metals. Since then he continued with the expansion of his original ideas. His evolution has culminated in his best collection to date—casual chic styles with his signature shaker components. He works with iconic classics, the pieces that every woman should have in her jewelry wardrobe but has added his stamp of style—his shakers to pieces such as tennis/line bracelets,  drop earrings, riviere necklaces and signet rings to name just a few of the ultra-wearable styles. He has imbued them with a relevant, and ultra-modern vibe. The scale of the pieces also allow them to be layered or worn on their own. This new collection has elevated his looks to those that can be worn today and handed down and the type of styles you never want to take off, pieces you want to add to and/or update your existing jewelry wardrobe. He has lived up to his tag line: “Nobody shakes it like Moritz Glik.”  

Here is a peek at the timeline of Moritz’s styles and how they evolved through Moritz’s own lens.

2004- “My first ever collection was based upon different chains, mostly snake chains and dainty cable chains in 18K yellow or white gold. The movements at the time came from the placements of the chain so the gemstones would shake as the wearer moved. The stones I used initially were diamonds and blue/yellow sapphires.”

2005-“My first shaker was not planned it was a happy accident. When I started out I kept my stones in a Lucite box in my closet. Because I was constantly taking the box in and out of the closet, one day I saw how the stones were moving around and decided to make a piece of jewelry inspired by what was happening with the loose stones inside the box. After that piece, there was no going back. It became my signature and all my designs would be created around the feeling you get when you shake a snow globe but you have diamonds settling instead of snow shaking around and settling with graceful agility .” It was fluidity  of gems in the purest form. To house the gems, I had sapphire crystal cut (which is often used for watch cases). This was crucial to my commitment to the workmanship and longevity of the pieces.”

2006-2007- “I love the detail of Edwardian jewelry and the geometry and clean lines of the Art Deco period. When I first began designing the shaker pieces, my love of antique and vintage influenced style. As I grew as an artist I found my voice and began creating jewelry that interpreted traditional and vintage pieces but imbued the pieces with a style that I worked on until it I made the look my own.”

2007-2008-“What started to have a huge influence on me is architecture, watching people and seeing what they were wearing and how they were putting pieces together. From the beginning and all throughout my progression, I continually look for movement, playfulness and notice all that is “happening around me.  Although these were my main inspirations, I knew this would keep changing as I could get inspired by numerous artistic endeavors and everyday happenings.” 

2008- “I had started working with gold and continued to do so until 2008 when gold went so high it became prohibitive for retailers to buy. Instead, I began to mix metals—gold and oxidized silver. This took me back to more of an antique look since this combination used to be popular throughout the 19^th century.  I also used a lot of rose cut diamonds to enhance this antique feeling. The styles and look appealed to many retailers and I kept the look going even after gold prices leveled out. I began to use polished rough and opaque colored diamonds.”

2010-2013-“ I continued to use colored diamonds and also more of the fancy colored sapphires I have started with as well as rubies and emeralds. The styles got bolder—more statement pieces which was a continuation of what began to happen when I was working in both gold and silver.”

In 2014-2015- “I was mesmerized by the stars and the mystery of the sky, planetary movement and the moon. I had never really designed motif-driven jewelry in my collection before but I thought it would be a great time to bring in stars, crescent moons and use the colors that would create the feeling of constellations in the sky. It was a well-received collection and seemed like the next step for me to take as I expanded my collection.”

2016-2017 –“I was now comfortable trying my hand at different motifs and have always been into nature. I added certain popular and meaningful pieces such as the dragonfly and the ladybug and then came the bee. They all served as dual purpose jewelry –the dragonfly which is associated with change for the better and renewal was both a brooch and a pendant. The ladybug was a pendant but if you angled it correctly with bobby pins it could also be worn as a hair ornament. It is symbolic of luck—if one lands on you take it gently in your hand and blow on it—you make a wish which is supposed to come true. Then I brought in the bee which represents strength, good fortune and changing destinations.”

2017- “I introduced a selection of colored gemstone in fun styles such as rough-hewn bi watermelon tourmalines”.

2018-2020– “I had begun to incorporate the signature shaker to timeless pieces for my collection with enamel accents and different cuts of diamonds such as baguettes, which are still current details in my pieces. This year I was very focused on classic delicate silhouettes similar to those I started with.  The idea for the new collection was to play with favorite and familiar classics such as the riviere necklace, tennis bracelet, drop and hoop earrings, charm pendants and signet rings and to do it within my aesthetic which was to combine them with my shakers. These pared-down designs allow for more variety in price point which opens the collection to  a wider audience. I offer the collection in 18K  yellow, rose gold, palladium and a mix of  18K yellow gold and palladium. It feels right. These pieces in some iteration have always been the staples of my collection but now I have branched out and reworked them into the premier pieces. I feel that this has been an organic evolution and that every collection was another phase of my creative growth and the expansion of my customer base.”