Established in 1972, legendary London jewellery makers The Great Frog tapped into a shifting cultural wave and made it shimmer. Founded by Paterson Riley and his partner Carol on Carnaby Street, as bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Motorhead led a brooding sonic revolution, The Great Frog’s artisanal jewellery (created exclusively in-house) became synonymous with this nascent tribe of bikers, punks and outlaws; their offerings have not just reframed the bigger picture, they’ve embellished it with solid gold. (A true hallmark of TGF’s outsider status? They’re also credited as being the originator of the infamous skull ring that has since become an enduring symbol of rock ‘n’ roll counter-culture.)

Since then, The Great Frog has carved its name in rock ‘n’ roll lore, opening up stores worldwide and decorating rock ‘n’ roll royalty (such is the brand’s authenticity). Now run by Paterson’s son, Reino Lehtonen-Riley, this week marks the opening of The Great Frog’s new Shoreditch space. Designed by architectural firm Brinkworth, the new store comes outfitted with cabinets from friend of the brand Damien Hirst’s personal collection and a 1987 Buick Grand National parked in the middle of the space.

To mark the opening we asked Reino why now and why Shoreditch – alongside an exclusive playlist of heavy hitters curated by the Great Frog owner to celebrate the occasion.

Alex James Taylor: This is your first shop in London away from the Carnaby flagship. Why did now feel right and why Shoreditch?
Reino Lehtonen-Riley: I’ve lived in Hackney for the majority of my adult life; east London has been my home for almost twenty years. I’ve spent my 20s and 30s partying and drinking in Shoreditch, Dalston and Brick Lane but as I’ve matured and now spend less time partying and drinking, so has Shoreditch – we both mean business now. My family and I have now moved slightly further east to Leyton and apart from working, I rarely go into the West End. I mainly work out of our production warehouse in Clapton and I figure there must be a lot of other people like me who stay local. Shoreditch has everything to offer including some of my favourite restaurants, and in my opinion, London’s the best for retail.

I had my eye on various Shoreditch locations and when I was viewing a particular location which just wasn’t quite right, I bumped into Alan Carnaby store window cleaner who happened to be working on the windows of an empty shop around the corner from where I was viewing. We got chatting and it turned out a friend of mine had the lease on the building. Knowing the area really well I thought this would be the perfect location and it had the scale I was looking for. Shoreditch affords us to the space to be able to integrate various elements and give the customer a real taste and representation of The Great Frog as I see it. We’ve been paying West London rent for a small space and it limits what we’re able to do. Personally I think Shoreditch is up there with other locations in the world like Brooklyn, it’s slightly off-the-beaten-track as a shopping destination but with major brands investing I feel like it’s the only other place that can compete with the West End as a credible retail area in London. It has the right mix of independent stores and high-end fashion brands.

AJT: You’ve managed to get a full Buick in the store, what was the idea behind the store interior and where did the Buick come from? What year is it?
RLR: I was in New York in the early 2000s hanging around Lower East Side and walked into a store, I don’t remember what they were selling or what brand it was but they had a black, angular Aston Martin Lagonda and it just dominated the space. It’s all I remember of the store and I guess it left a lasting impression. The Buick Grand National has always been one of my favourite cars since going to Florida to visit my family in the early 80s – I was completely enamoured with the scale and shape of American cars of that era and whilst on a family holiday I saw a Buick Grand National in its menacing, Dark Vader-esque glory and dreamt one day of owning one. I was searching for years in LA and it was only when I was visiting a small local car show in East London that there just happened to be one parked up with a Motorhead sticker in the window. I got chatting to the owner and after hurriedly speaking to my accountant and asking if I could justify this as a display piece I made a deal with the owner. It’s a two-owner, 14,000 original mile, 1987 model. I couldn’t really justify the expenditure at the time but it was fate and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass me by.

Gallery: The Great Frog / Lock Down collection launching at the Shoreditch store this week

AJT: What will the store stock? Are there any special pieces especially for the store?
RLR: Partly one of the reasons we took this large-scale space was because I wanted to have the room to start adding more curated items. We’re starting to design a clothing collection including a variety of leather jackets with the addition of homewares, surfboards, BMXs, furniture, books and ceramics. Basically everything I love and would want to buy myself. Now we have the space there will be plenty more opportunity to produce more products under The Great Frog brand.

AJT: Is there a jewellery studio in the store or will you make the pieces at the Carnaby Street space?
RLR: Having such a vast space we are probably creating the largest on-site jewellery workshop in London and with this space we are investing in new technology (well, new to us at least) to be able to push the boundaries of what we’re able to offer the customer. Whilst we will still be using traditional methods of production, we also want to evolve and with new technology we will be able to create pieces and designs that we haven’t been able to in the past. More importantly, we want our customers and fans to be able to come in, hang out and get an understanding of the full process of making TGF items, so customers will be able to see our talented jewellers creating the pieces they’ve purchased. I feel like we’re best able to sell our vision when people understand its authenticity, we’re not just re-selling shit, we live and breathe the brand and its provenance. The workshop is inextricably linked, we can’t have one without the other – we can’t just have a slick retail store, customers need to see the nitty-gritty behind it to understand that everything is made in London by hand, not just shipped over in boxes from China.

AJT: What can we expect on the speakers?
RLR: As you’d probably expect, a lot of heavy metal and hard rock of course – there will always be lots of Sabbath, Metallica, maiden, Led Zeppelin, Motorhead and Slayer, to name but a few. But as we’re a large group of lots of personalities, everyone has the opportunity to pitch in with requests, even if sometimes it’ll be shouted down – including myself if I go on a 90s ragga binge. At the moment I’m listening to Nas’ new album on repeat and when I have the headphones in when I’m working it’s a mix of rock and metal but also Wu-Tang, Bone Thugs and Harmony, 2Pac, Biggie, Prodigy, Cardi B, Queens of the Stone Age, Misfits, The Clash and ZZ Top. And always Motorhead.

AJT: What else have you got coming up soon?
RLR: We ventured into fine jewellery by launching a wedding collection at the end of 2018 and I’m looking to expand this with more designs later this year. We’ve had customers asking for TGF engagement and wedding bands for years and while people have been purchasing our existing designs in gold embellished with diamonds, I felt it was time to launch a more refined collection. We’re also in the middle of planning our Tokyo store, which we’re hoping to have open by the end of the year, and we’re working with the godfathers of Tokyo streetwear, Neighborhood, to create new pieces exclusively for them. We’ve got various band collaborations including the imminent launch of a Judas Priest range and a very limited edition Motley Crue collaboration to coincide with the launch of their new film The Dirt this month – Nikki Sixx got in touch after he saw the ring I made for Ozzy’s 70th and wanted us to do something special for him too. This year we’ll be launching our first clothing line, I’ll be collaborating with Justin O’ Shea’s SSS World Corp  .. and plenty more in the pipeline. Very exciting times for us and I could never have imagined that we’d be in the position that we are today. I‘m just so thankful and excited for what’s to come.

The Great Frog is located at 1 Holywell Ln, EC2A 3ET.