Under his spell – my life with Picasso

Diana Widmaier Picasso has channelled her grandfather’s magnetic influence to navigate a creative path of her own.

Not all of Widmaier Picasso’s endeavours are associated with her grandfather. She’s a trustee for MoMA PS1 in New York and on the board of the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin and is also involved with the Tate and the Met. Another sideline is the jewellery brand Menē, which she launched in 2017 with entrepreneur Roy Sebag. The premise was to create a classic range of 24K gold and platinum jewellery that functions as an investment as well as adornment. “On our website, customers can buy, sell and exchange their jewellery by weight at the prevailing daily price for gold as quoted on the international bullion markets,” explains Sebag. The brand went public soon after its launch and has since been growing at 50 per cent year on year.

Widmaier Picasso’s design team is headed up by former Kenzo and Missoni creative Sunjoo Moon. Playful charms and pendants are offered alongside classic chain bracelets, necklaces with oval links or woven rope-like cords, and serpent-shaped stud earrings. There are a few Picasso references – a Minotaur, for instance, and a dove, and he loved gold. Yet when Menē launched an artist edition in 2019 it was not with him but with Louise Bourgeois, translating her famous Arch of Hysteria and Spider sculptures into pendants. Doing something unassociated with the family name clearly feels good. “And it’s successful!”

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