GEORG JENSEN A Scandinavian Journey With Henning Koppel

GEORG JENSEN pays tribute to HENNING KOPPEL, one of the brand’s most prominent designers and creator of many definitive masterpieces over the years with a special exhibition was held in Hong Kong recently undertaking a Scandinavian journey with GEORG JENSEN and HENNING KOPPEL. The exhibition presents HENNING KOPPEL’s classic design of silverware, watches and home living products collection for GEORG JENSEN. When KOPPEL was invited to join the silverware design team by GEORG JENSEN in 1946, he set a collaborative condition: His design must reflect his own contemporary aesthetic perspective and GEORG JENSEN agreed to his request.

This unveiled the 35-year collaboration between HENNING KOPPEL and GEORG JENSEN, wrote a new chapter on Scandinavian sculptural pragmatism. When HENNING KOPPEL’s first timepiece design came to life in 1970, it was a wall clock with a slightly curved, matte white surface, gray-black roman numerals and sword-shaped hands that formed the prototype of KOPPEL watch. Released in 1977, the first KOPPEL watch design is a minimalist industrial expression through his signature details and proportion, thoughtfully replacing the traditional horological minute track and numbers with dots graduated in five-minute segments.

In 2016, KOPPEL watch blends the creative partnership between Danish design and Swiss precision watchmaking through its careful balance of subtle details, like the contrast between the small seconds hand and the main hour and minute hands, the slightly trapezoid date window and the precisely considered disc that caps the central axis, and its incorporation of sophisticated content never disrupts the clarity of the original. In addition to its classic watch series, HENNING KOPPEL designed an array of silverware series, with the most iconic PITCHER and also known as Pregnant Duck released in 1952 transformed his dedication and silversmithy into a timeless design.

Independent of mind and with a critically acclaimed talent for sculpture, HENNING KOPPEL’s cutlery, home living, jewellery and watch designs were provocatively modern but always imbued with Scandinavian restraint. Defined by voids and spaces as much as solid forms, his vision defined the new modernism. This concern for unused space made the KOPPEL watch a groundbreaking addition to the horological design canon. HENNING KOPPEL’s work with GEORG JENSEN continued a tradition of collaborative creation that was already a hallmark of Danish design. With simplistic and sculptural masterpieces were all given life by his silversmithy, "HENNING KOPPEL'' has become a synonym of excellent Danish design since.

Inherited with HENNING KOPPEL's elegant Scandinavian style, the exhibition is decorated with simple lines and pure geometry. It delicately presents various masterpieces created by HENNING KOPPEL and Fusion collection designed by his daughter NINA KOPPEL for Georg Jensen, sharply displays his mottos on the exhibition wall, and shows flashback of his celebrated history with milestones and essence of his silversmithy. This offers guests an impression about the prominence of HENNING KOPPEL to the histories of Scandinavian design and the evolvement of GEORG JENSEN.

Never complacent, GEORG JENSEN continues to present new creations within its passionate pursuit towards perfection. The brand proudly presents to the world a perfect fusion of superb craftsmanship and the sophisticated integration of art and functionality, through creative exchange and collaborations with outstanding designers around the world, GEORG JENSEN continues its quest in extending its design aesthetics from past to present, in effect creating more timeless pieces of subtle elegance aligned with the times.