Page 17 - VE Magazine - Issue 26

Silver machine
Producing most of his work for Georg Jensen, Henning Koppel is the epitome of ‘Danish design’, and in our opinion, the most space age designer of all time! From the very beginning, his abstract, sculptural silverwork was unlike anything that had been before – his ‘Amoeba’ necklaces and linked bracelets resembling vertebrae and microscopic organisms – a very alien concept in the late 1940s!
The sculptural ‘Shooting Star’ pins seen here, were made between 1946 and 1955, but nevertheless have a very space age look about them. His highly sought after 60s pieces, like this open elliptical form and ‘Splash’ design, were made with matching bracelets, brooches, pendants and earrings – and are still out of this world!
Defying gravity
Margaret de Patta was very much ahead of her time, making ‘Space Age’ jewellery as early as the 1930s and 40s! Influenced by Bauhaus, she was one of the first Americans to recognise the endless possibilities for modern design in jewellery, treating each piece as a sculpture, and her gemstones often appear to float in space.
With her husband, industrial designer Eugene Bielawski, she experimented to create a reasonably priced limited-production jewellery line – Designs Contemporary – which lasted 12 years from 1946 through 1957.
Though today her amazing designs are highly desirable, her business closed after retailers found her avant-garde designs were too forward- looking for the general public. Frustrated and depressed, Margaret’s marriage suffered and sadly she took her own life in the early 1960s.
Designing ‘Space Age’ jewellery as early as
the 1930s - Margaret’s gemstones appear to just float in space!
www.vintagexplorer.co.uk
ve / February-March 2016 / 17
Plan 9 from
Outer Space
More modernist overall, Ed Wiener produced some real little gems – more
Ed Wood than Ed Weiner! He was almost entirely self-taught and produced some fantastic cufflinks and pins in the space age style. Just look at the alien type character
with a cabochon eye featured on
his 1950s abstract figural ring. And don’t his cufflinks look like they’ve just flown in from planet Zorg?