Georg Arthur JENSEN was born in 1866 in Raadvad , located on the north of Copenhaguen in Danmark. He is considered one of the most important silversmiths of the twentieth century. He grew up in a small industrial town where his father worked as a grinder in a knife factory.
At an early age he started as an apprentice at this knife factory like apprentice. His life took a new way when his family moved to Copenhaguen. There he became an apprentice to a goldsmith. This apprenticeship sparked his interest in becoming a sculptor. He passed the entrance for the Royal Danish Academy of fine arts and joined the sculpture class in 1887 and he graduated in 1892. After the 1900 exhibition in Paris, Jensen expanded his study of art and toured Paris, Roma and Florence.
In 1901, Jensen returned to Denmark and he decided to return to his old craft, metalsmithing in the Magens Ballin workshop. There he discovered the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement. There, he also designed and made pieces of jewellery.
His work received a favorable response and quickly everybody conspired to persuade Jensen to open his own workshop; he opened it in April 1904 in Copenhaguen. The early production consisted mainly of jewellery designed by Jensen. In 1906, Jensen's first flatware pattern was produced. Several more flatware followed n the years to come. Slowly the recognition of Jensen's silver grew. The demand for Jensen silver increased and Jensen opened a new sales shop in Berlin in 1909 and a workshop in 1912 in Copenhaguen. Subsequently he began to exhibit his silver in Paris, Brussels...
These and other successes convinced Georg Jensen that an even greater expansion of the firm was necessary. In 1916 a company was formed with G. Jensen as chairman and artistic director. Some retail stores were opened in London and in New-York. The design was undertaken not only by Jensen but also by other designers.
Despite that relations with the company directors became strained for Jensen and in 1925, he moved to Paris with his family and started a small workshop of his own.
This workshop wasn't entirely successfull and in 1926 he was persuaded to return to Paris but he returned to the company he founded. Here, he took part in the development and in the approval of new designs. Meanwhile, Jensen continued to receive international recognition for his work. For example he was awarded the Grand Prix in the international exhibition in Barcelona and in 1935 in Brussels.
Today, his name is still known throughout the world and is held to be synonymous with silver of the highest quality.
As we saw before, during his career as a designer of silver objects, Jensen developed a distinctive style that is readily identifiable. He was clearly influenced by past and present artistic styles and philosophies(art nouveau; arts and crafts movement....). Also in some of Jensen's designs the influence of Scandinavian baroco.
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