Georg Jensen silver gallery opens in London’s Mayfair

Georg Jensen has unveiled a standalone silver gallery on London’s Grafton Street, representing the Danish brand’s first European outpost dedicated entirely to silverware and hollowware.

Though modest in scale, the site – around the corner from New Bond Street and a stone’s throw from Mayfair’s leading art galleries – immediately conveys prestige, as befitting a heritage label that built its reputation on high-end silversmithing and boasts an illustrious list of creative collaborators, from Johan Rohde to Kengo Kuma. 

Inside Georg Jensen silver gallery

The entrance to the silver gallery is deliberately understated. A low flight of steps leads to a single, vault-like door, flanked by four diamond-shaped windows that are unusually small in a neighbourhood known for opulent window displays. ‘We did not want to reveal much from the outside, as we want the customer to have a unique experience when entering the space,’ says Ragnar Hjartarson, creative director at Georg Jensen.

The store interiors, created by an in-house design team, are minimalist and linear, in a calm palette of white, soft grey and midnight blue. The latter ‘emphasises the silver’s natural elements’, continues Hjartarson. ‘The light in the gallery causes the beautiful silver pieces to cast reflections on the deep blue wall emulating the starry night sky.’

Against this poetic backdrop is a wide range of iconic silver pieces, from striking contemporary designs such as Nendo’s ‘Mizuki’ vases (unveiled in 2021) to cherished classics including the ‘Grape Wine Cooler no. 357’, designed by the brand’s eponymous founder a century earlier. ‘It displays all the trademark characteristics of the master silversmith’s sophisticated take on Art Nouveau,’ describes Hjartarson. To mark the wine cooler’s centennial, Georg Jensen has introduced a matching champagne goblet and caviar bowl.

In between these styles is the work of Henning Koppel, a leader of the Scandinavian modern design movement. With precise organic curves and hand-wired handles, Koppel’s silver pitchers remain cutting-edge seven decades on, and stand as testaments to Georg Jensen’s pivotal role in championing a modernist aesthetic. Also not to be missed is Koppel’s ‘1041’ centrepiece, hand-hammered from a 12kg sheet of fine silver.

Beyond the brand’s own treasures, the silver gallery is a haven for admirers of Danish design, being furnished with archetypically Danish seating – such as a trio of ‘Loafer’ chairs by Space Copenhagen for &Tradition, and the aptly monikered ‘Georg’ stool by Christina Liljenberg Halstrøm for Skagerak. Hjartarson explains, ‘The name of the “Georg” stool inspired us, but it is the simple and elegant design of both the stools and the “Loafer” chairs which led us to use them in the gallery.’

Open by appointment only, the gallery offers an exclusive environment for customers to view and order their desired Georg Jensen pieces, and make requests for customisation. And while the silver gallery concept is new, Hjartarson says it is already shaping the way the brand thinks about retail: ‘We are planning to try different showroom concepts for our silver hollowware, including [at] Harrods Shanghai and Harrods Beijing.’

Georg Jensen silver gallery
14A Grafton Street
London W1

georgjensen.com

For appointments, contact silverware@georgjensen.com