Kay Bojesen
b. Copenhagen, Denmark, 1886
Kay Bojesen was born into a creative home and at a young age was offered an apprenticeship with silversmith Georg Jensen. In 1910, Bojesen graduated as a silversmith and became one of the first Danish artisans to embrace functionalism. Bojesen was fascinated by the clean, smooth surface of silver and his eye for form and function gave him a more modern design aesthetic than those before him.
In 1938, Bojesen presented a cutlery series in silver. Each piece was crafted with soft and harmonious shapes in order to fit the human hand and mouth, as he believed that their aesthetic should be secondary to their functionality and convenience. In 1951, Kay’s silverware won the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts and Modern Architecture and was thereafter named “Grand Prix”. In 1952, Bojesen was appointed Purveyor to His Majesty the King of Denmark for “long and regular trade with the Court” for his cutlery that is still in use today inside of Danish Embassy residences around the world.
During his later years, one could find him in his workshop on Bredgade 47, with his wife Erna at the cash register. The scene would have been a jumble of polished silverware, monkeys, and rocking horses. Kay Bojesen, the company, is still run by the Bojesen family today.
