Henning Koppel

Henning Koppel (1918 Copenhagen, Denmark – 1981 Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish artist, most known for his work for Georg Jensen in the years after World War II.

Koppel was born on 8 May 1918 in Copenhagen, the son of newspaper editor-in-chief, Valdemar Koppel and translator Elise Jørgensen. He graduated from Øregårds Gymnasium in 1934 and then studied under professor Einar Utzon-Frank at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’s School of Sculpture in 1936–37 and at Académie Ranson in Paris in 1938.
Because of his Jewish background, Koppel had to seek refuge in Sweden during World War II. While living in Stockholm in 1943-44, he worked as a jewelry designer for Svenskt Tenn.

After Koppel returned to Denmark in 1945, he obtained a contract with Georg Jensen, a collaboration that lasted for the rest of his life. His work was rewarded with gold medals on three Milan Triennials in a row in (1951, 1954 and 1957).

In 1961 Koppel also began to work for the china factory Bing & Grøndahl. His designs for the company included coffee and tea sets, flatware patterns and a number of jugs and serving dishes.
He also designed glassware for Holmegaard and Orrefors and lamps for Louis Poulsen. In 1963 he won first prize in a competition for the design of a new series of stamps for Post Danmark, but his design proposal was never realized.

For his designs he received numerous prestigious international design awards among them: 1963 International Design Award, USA; 1970 Gold medal Florence, Italy and 1953 Lunning Award, Copenhagen, Denmark.

His work can be found in musea all over the world, amongst others: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; MoMa, New York City; Art Institute of Chicago and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.