GEORG JENSEN (1866-1935)

Georg Jensen  was a world-renowned Danish silversmith born in Raadvad, Denmark in 1866. His legacy also encompasses his eponymous firm, which began in 1904, where Jensen established a thoroughly modern Danish silver style of artist-designed works and hand-crafted quality that continues to this day. By age fourteen, Georg Jensen was apprenticing as a goldsmith with aspirations of becoming a sculptor. Subsequently, he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and exhibited and sold his ceramics on graduation.

He transitioned from fine to applied art and became one of the most notable silversmiths of the twentieth century. Jensen founded his company at the age of thirty-seven, in Copenhagen, and embraced the art nouveau style of the day, injecting his distinct vision. At the start of his career, Jensen focused primarily on jewelry. His material of choice was silver in combination with semiprecious stones such as opal, amber, and moonstone. He was designing jewelry pieces for the middle class and especially for those who would appreciate their artistic merit. His work was perfectly in line with the Arts and Crafts movement that could also be found in other European cities.

Soon after opening the shop, Jensen started to work with Johan Rhode, who was interested in designing flatware under the Jensen name, the beginnings of one of the most important relationships in the history of design. Jensen’s business grew rapidly over the course of the next twenty years. Shops opened in Berlin, Paris, London, Copenhagen, and New York that were financially successful.

Jensen also continued to be recognized as an important artist: in 1925, he was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris World's Fair, and at the 1929 World’s Fair in Barcelona, he won the Grand Prix. In 1932, he was the only silversmith outside Great Britain to exhibit at the Goldsmiths' Hall. In 1935, he won the Grand Prix at the World's Fair in Brussels.

That same year, at the age of sixty-nine, Jensen passed away in Denmark. The Jensen company has operated for more than a hundred years, and remains renowned for collaborations with prominent artists, designers, and architects such as Nanna Ditzel, Henning Koppel, and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe, who defined the modern Scandinavian aesthetic of silver and gold jewelry during the 1960s and 1970s. Later artistic partners included Zaha Hadid and Jacqueline Rabun.

Visit our exhibition page for "MEDITATIONS ON MODERNISM: Thirty Years of Jewelry Design by Jacqueline Rabun, 1990–2022 and Selections from Notable Post-WWII Nordic Jewelry" to learn more about the innovative and exquisite Nordic jewelry in our collection.