Georg Jensen

Geog Jensen did not earn any money with his art

Georg Jensen was born in Raadvad near Copenhagen on 31 August 1866. The son of a knife sharpener, he began his goldsmith’s apprenticeship at the age of 14 at Guldsmed Andersen in Copenhagen. After successfully graduating in 1884, Georg Jensen decided to follow his own artistic inclinations and applied to the Royal Danish Art Academy in 1887 to study sculpture under Theodor Stein (1829-1901). His first works were exhibited in 1892 but he then chose to study ceramics with Joachim Petersen (1870-1943). Although Jensen’s fine ceramic sculptures were well received at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900, he was unable to enough money with them, and thus turned to the decorative arts. He was also greatly praised for his work for the Danish porcelain manufacturer Bing & Grøndahl and his partnership with Christian Petersen (1885-1961), but financial success remained absent. 

Financial success with silver for the goldsmith 

Georg Jensen abandoned ceramic work in 1901 and began his career as a silversmith with Mogens Ballin (1871-1914). Ironically, it was his silverwork that brought the trained goldsmith the sought-after economic success. He finished his first silver belt buckle as early as 1899, the model Adam and Eve, a work that was so much in accordance with his visions that he invested his little capital in opening his own small silver workshop in 1904. His Art Nouveau creations attracted worldwide attention and led to rapid international expansion of his company. Jensen’s business philosophy was to market silverwork of the highest possible quality, but which did not always have to be of his own creation and thus as early as 1930, the designer Adda Husted Andersen (1898-1990) created enamelled housewares for the New York branch. Georg Jensen’s own works were already acknowledged as art during his lifetime and collected and displayed in renowned museums and galleries, including the Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen and the Museum Folkwang in Essen. Georg Jensen died in Copenhagen on 2 October 1935.

Collaboration with renowned design greats

Following the death of its founder, Georg Jensen Sølvsmedie was continued by his son Jørgen Jensen (1855-1966) who largely maintained the paternal maxim and ensured collaboration with numerous renowned designers including Sigvard Bernadotte (1907–2002), Nanna Ditzel (1923–2005), Arne Jacobsen (1902–1971), Finn Juhl (1912–1989), Henning Koppel (1918–1981), Erik Magnussen (1940–2014) and Hans Christian Nielsen (1892–1977). Their works were decisive in the steady increase in Georg Jensen’s global appeal. Watches and jewellery joined the portfolio in the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1971 Georg Jensen was taken over by Royal Copenhagen and indirectly under the ownership of the Bahrain-based investment fund Investcorp.