Georg Jensen

Georg Jensen is not only the name of a world renowned Danish silversmith; but is also the name that represents a famous group of craftsmen and artists, who created silverworks of their own design as part of the company started by Georg Jensen. It is a name that represents craftsmanship and artistry of the highest quality.

Georg Jensen, the founder of the Georg Jensen Company was born in 1866. He grew up rurally in Denmark, and often attributed the nature and countryside as inspiration for his life’s work. It is said that Jensen’s genius wasn’t necessarily that he copied things in nature, but that he created amazing pieces, using his sensibility and skill as a trained sculptor, with nature as his inspirational foundation.

Jensen initially studied to be a sculptor, however there wasn’t the demand nor the money for him to continue in this field, thus he turned to the life of a silversmith in 1901. This is when he joined Mogens Ballin in his workshop. Siegfried Wagner, who would later design an important pattern (the DAHLIA pattern) for Jensen later, also worked for Ballin around this time.

In 1904, Georg Jensen set up his own silversmith workshop at 36 Bredgade in Copenhagen. His training in metalsmithing, paired with his training in fine arts helped him to revive the tradition of the artist craftsman. It was the quality and beauty of his Art Nouveau pieces that gained him attention- the public became interested and that assured his success.

Jensen seemed to go from strength to strength, this was clearly displayed in 1915 at the Pan Pacific Exposition when William Randolph Hearst purchased Jensen’s full body of work.

As a result of Jensen’s incredible success, the Copenhagen workshop was greatly expanded, and before the end of the 1920s, Jensen had opened retail space in three major capitals; Berlin (1909), London (1921), and New York (1924).

After his death in 1935, the business was continued by his son Soren Georg Jensen. In 1973, the company became a part of the Royal Scandinavia Group.

In 2013, Georg Jensen was acquired by Investcorp, and David Chu, the founder of Nautica.