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What started as a small silversmith’s shop exactly a hundred years ago is one of Denmark’s most recognised brands today. Georg Jensen A/S markets a wide range of gold and silver jewellery, watches, cutlery, hollowware as well as design items for the home – products that convey an air of elegant simplicity and timeless beauty. This markedly understated, Nordic approach to design, combined with an outstanding craftsmanship and attention to detail, has made the Danish company famous the world over. |
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 | Hans-Kristian Højsgaard
CEO and Georg Jensen’s president |
Founded in 1904, Georg Jensen is celebrating its centenary this year. 100 years ago, the Danish
company started with a small workshop in Copenhagen making silver jewellery and hollowware. Today, it is one of Denmark’s most recognised luxury brands with more than 1,000 employees, annual revenues exceeding EUR 100 million, and 110 shops across the globe. The product range comprises precious gold and silver jewellery, watches, cutlery, hollowware as well as a wide choice of design items for the home and the office. “Accounting for some 85% of our total sales, jewellery and watches form the most important product category,” explains President & CEO Hans-Kristian Højsgaard who joined Georg Jensen only last year. Mr. Højsgaard has 18 years of experience working in executive positions for several international luxury goods groups, including the French cosmetics firm Guerlain, the LVMH Group, and Lancaster. Throughout its history, Georg Jensen has remained true to its Scandinavian roots, which clearly shows in the company’s product philosophy. “Georg Jensen has always stood for an organic and refined design that is both very pure and elegant,” says Mr. Højsgaard. This understated, typically Nordic style of design has created numerous products of timeless beauty that have made Georg Jensen unique in the world of luxury goods. The company’s jewellery and watches display an elegant simplicity that never goes out of fashion. This “timeless beauty spirit” is best exemplified by the company’s Vivianna watch collection. Designed by Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe in 1962, its pure and elegant design, featuring an open-ended watchstrap, delights the senses as much today as it did more than 40 years ago.
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Superior craftsmanship and outstanding design
All of Georg Jensen’s products are the result of a full century of superior craftsmanship. Using many hours of manual work and the closest attention to detail, the company’s goldsmiths and silversmiths turn precious metals and stones into beautiful, even more precious pieces of jewellery, watches, and gift articles. In addition to maintaining its own Creative Department, Georg Jensen works together with a large number of creative artists and designers. Throughout the years, the company has made it its business to support and nurture talented, young artists. Today, a wide array of creative people work for Georg Jensen, including such world-renowned designers as Henning Koppel, Nanna Ditzel, and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe. “All of them are committed to the tradition of the pure, elegant design language which was started by sculptor and master craftsman Georg Jensen a hundred years ago,” says Mr. Højsgaard. To pay homage to its longstanding tradition, Georg Jensen has just re-launched its Heritage Collection. Designed by Georg Jensen himself and several of his apprentices, it includes all of the premium classic jewellery, hollowware, and silver cutlery from the early 1900s. The jewellery in the Heritage Collection is perfect proof for the timeless beauty of Georg Jensen. Completely handmade by exceptionally gifted craftsmen, these timeless pieces of art are produced in the company’s original silversmith’s shop in Copenhagen. |
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New collections to mark the centenary
Marking the 100th anniversary of the Georg Jensen Company, the year 2004 is the perfect occasion for lending the brand a fresh, new look with nevertheless a distinctively Scandinavian twist. “Our centenary this year is a great opportunity to show the world our unique craftsmanship and design qualities which have been evident right from the beginning in 1904,” states Mr. Højsgaard. To celebrate its centenary, Georg Jensen has invited selected designers to reflect on the company’s characteristic, Nordic style of design. These efforts resulted in several new product lines, including the 100 and the Nordic Summer collections. The 100 collection, a true centenary collection, was designed by Jacqueline Rabun, a self-taught jeweller who is recognised for her stunning designs in silver and gold the world over. She drew her inspiration from the visual play of digits in the number 100. It pays homage to Georg Jensen’s outstanding ability to create new and innovative pieces of jewellery for the past 100 years. The collection reflects the company’s distinctive design language that is refined and organic, daring and confident at the same time. It plays with the digits 1 and 0 which combine into the figure 100 in a simple and almost natural manner. The second line of products marking the company’s centenary is Nordic Summer. Designed by Kim Buck, a graduate from Copenhagen’s Institute of Precious Metals and owner of his own workshop and gallery, the new gold ring collection with coloured stones is reminiscent of Nordic summer. A beautiful quartz stone, positioned in a strong, 18-carat gold ring, captures the sunlight and makes the stunning stone glow. |
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On the way to becoming a global luxury group
While never neglecting its distinctly Scandinavian roots, Georg Jensen is developing from a Danish design company into a global luxury goods company. Pushed by Axcel, a private equity firm which now holds 80% of the shares in the company, Georg Jensen is on the way to becoming a high-profile player in the international luxury goods market. “Our aim is to join the top of the world’s luxury goods firms in three to five years,” says Mr. Højsgaard. “To achieve this demanding goal, we will very much have to focus on our core business of jewellery and watches.” In addition to focusing on jewellery and watches, Georg Jensen will be pursuing a more customer-oriented approach by introducing new, must-have pieces to surprise, delight, and enchant the senses. The company will be positioned as an independent brand whose design hallmark is reflected in the motto “Purity that lives”. The new collections filling this vision with life will focus on gold, silver, and diamonds where Georg Jensen can draw on many years of design and manufacturing experience. “Over the coming months, we will be bringing a number of acclaimed international designers into the company,” explains Mr. Højsgaard. “These will complement the many talented Danish designers we are already working together with.” Mr. Højsgaard is eager to emphasise, however, that the company’s going global does not mean it will forget where it comes from: “We are very proud of our Danish silver traditions and deeply committed to cultivating our long-established heritage.” The transformation of Georg Jensen into a global player coincides with the company’s centenary and a marked recovery of the global market for luxury goods. After several years of sluggish growth, the international luxury goods sector is seeing a revival – and Georg Jensen is in a perfect position to meet the growing demand. “The timing is perfect. The conditions couldn’t be any better,” says Mr. Højsgaard. “We have a sound base to start from: a comprehensive selection of refined, timeless products, well-established contacts among Danish and international designers, and a strong network of outlets with more than 100 shops worldwide.”
Find out more on www.georgjensen.com |
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© September 2010 - European Publications GmbH
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