Suzanne Syz – start collecting right now!

Just 18 years ago, Suzanne Syz was creating her first jewelry collection and already breaking with convention. Influenced by the artists she spent time with during her New York years, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat or Jeff Koons, this free-minded designer was always up for a challenge and willing to take risks in order to create original, transgressive, fun and colorful jewelry.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Suzanne Syz declared she would stop creating jewelry once she had reached the thousandth piece, and that moment has now come… it is with a heavy heart that we found out about her store’s permanent closure by the end of February 2021. It is time for the artist to close this chapter and open a new one, in particular by dedicating herself to her vineyard in Tuscany. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors!

One thing is for sure – Suzanne Syz’s innovative and quirky creations are true works of art and will become precious collector’s pieces over time. If you want to invest, now’s the time to buy one of the last pieces available before closure!

To pay tribute to this icon of pop art jewelry, full of imagination, creativity and humor, we’ve decided to publish this interview in two parts, starting with her relationship to pop culture and jewelry. To read more about her background, her inspiration and her creative process, stay tuned for part two!

SUZANNE SYZ, POP ARTIST OF THE JEWELRY WORLD

You were friends with several artists in New York in the 1980s-90s. Do you still feel their influence in your artistic choices?

Yes, definitely! Jean-Michel Basquiat was a very good friend of mine. He was a wonderful boy, very funny and extremely talented, creative and modern. He was way ahead of his time. At the time, he told me “you know, when I wasn’t famous they wouldn’t let me in”, because he was tagging walls and that wasn’t “chic”. When I met him in 1982, he was starting to get famous. I attended his first exhibition in the basement of Annina Nosei’s gallery. I saw his painting called Indian Head and I thought it was really awesome. I absolutely wanted to buy it, but I didn’t have enough money.

I missed New York a lot when I had to go back to Switzerland. At the time I didn’t realize how lucky I was to know these artists!

Is your collaboration with Alex Israel still related to this pop culture?

Yes, totally. Alex is a young Californian artist whom I admire a lot. I learned a lot from him. Every year, I ask an artist to reinvent the jewelry box. And for Alex frozen yogurt was very important because his father had a frozen yogurt parlor. So we recreated this parlor for Design Miami/Basel with vintage American diner furniture from the 1950s. It was great, we arranged the jewelry in frozen yogurt cups on the tables and we also served real ice cream! People loved it. They thought it was crazy, but they loved it.

Suzanne Syz’s fun take on jewelry

Some of your pieces were presented at the MEDUSA exhibition, which offered a unique perspective on jewelry. What is your relationship with jewelry? Do you think jewelry’s purpose is for us to be looked at, to belong to a group?

No, I don’t think so. I love sharing and I think we also give jewelry to share something. I see it as a gift of love, something to recall a special moment, whether it’s a wedding, a child… I have jewelry pieces that belonged to my mom, who passed away a few years ago, that mean a lot to me. They’re highly emotionally charged. I also have a bracelet called “Love For Dogs” which has the portraits of my eight dogs, now gone as well, painted on rock crystal. I love it because it’s my lucky charm, it’s like I still have my dogs with me.

I personally don’t wear jewelry to be looked at. I don’t see it as a flashy accessory that gets people to notice you. I wear jewelry for myself. I often make rings with setting work on both the front and the back, so it looks nice for the person who sees the inside of their ring too. And no one else can see that part... We don’t care what people think! This is freedom – you get to treat yourself, it’s for you and only you.