henning koppel (1917-1982)

Henning Koppel, born in a Copenhagen in 1917, was a celebrated Danish silversmith. He joined the Georg Jensen Company at the age of 27. Trained as an artist with a focus on drawing and sculpture, he studied at the Kunstakademiet (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) and the Académie Ranson in Paris. From the outset, Koppel’s silver designs were strikingly modern—abstract, sculptural, and unlike anything that had come before. His early work focused on jewelry, featuring flowing, organic forms that aligned more closely with the aesthetics of artists such as Alvar Aalto, Alexander Calder, Salvador Dalí, and Fernand Léger than with the traditional styles of the Georg Jensen silversmithy.

By the late 1940s, Koppel had turned his attention primarily to hollowware. Throughout his career, Koppel’s work—whether in jewelry, flatware, or hollowware—represented a radical departure from previous Jensen styles. Moving away from Georg Jensen’s ornate, nature-inspired motifs, Koppel brought a distinctly modern artistic sensibility that helped position Georg Jensen at the forefront of Scandinavian modern design.

Widely regarded as Denmark’s leading silversmith, Koppel received numerous honors during his career, including the Lunning Prize (1953), gold medals from the Milan Triennale (1951, 1954, and 1957), and the International Design Award from the American Institute of Interior Designers (1963). Koppel’s name soon is synonymous with the term “Scandinavian Modern.”