The Georg Jensen Gallery, the first pop-up from the Copenhagen-based brand, has opened its doors on London’s Bond Street. The space offers a chance to discover iconic silverware and jewellery collections, as well as playing host to exhibitions.
Currently on show is immersive paper installation Åen (Danish for ‘the stream’), which will run throughout October 2021. Artist Coco Sato, who designed the installation’s curving forms in oval quilled paper, was inspired by jewellery designer Jacqueline Rabun’s fluid silhouettes. Sato brings to life Rabun’s philosophy – ‘fluid shapes symbolise the way life transforms and evolves through our experience’ – for her paper pieces, which coil round Rabun’s classic and contemporary designs, the malleable loops and whorls of the paper reflecting the familiar forms of the jewellery.
The installation pays tribute to the sculptural swirl of silver that defines Rabun’s designs for Georg Jensen, on display in the space and epitomised in the ‘Mercy’ and ‘Offspring’ collections. ‘My design process is inspired by the human experience, and the journey of life,’ says Rabun. ‘The symbolic egg shape form of the “Offspring” collection I designed for Georg Jensen pays homage to the unique relationship between mother and child. It is close to my heart, as the collection was created in 2000 during a special moment when my son was a child. The fluid shapes in my work mirror the human form, so that when the pieces are worn they become a part of the wearer and move with your body.’
The Georg Jensen Gallery space itself, the result of a collaboration between the brand and Universal Design Studio, references both these flowing forms and Danish modernist Henning Koppel’s sculptural 1954 designs for Georg Jensen in its undulating design ticks. Cast in powder pink hues shot with playful bolts of Pantone blue, the interior’s organic design and soft tactile finishes invite visitors to immerse themselves in the jewellery’s sensual nature. §
