Danish jeweller Georg Jensen has taken on a charming new direction

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In July, Georg Jensen’s newly installed creative director Paula Gerbase was acquainting herself with the Danish brand’s packed-to-the-rafters archive in its Copenhagen HQ, when she came across a silver wheelbarrow. “Full-sized,” she clarifies, laughing. “I just stared with wonder.”

At first, I just tied it to the button placket of my jumpsuit. Then I attached it to a bag, then a key

If the archive’s sense of humour surprised her, Gerbase, who has previously worked at John Lobb and Sunspel, was just as struck by its depth. Georg Jensen is best known for its silver flatware, but its eponymous silversmith founder trained as a sculptor. Founded in 1904, the brand is still in possession of a 23-strong silversmith atelier, and has collaborated with a roll call of artists and designers “that reads like a who’s who of Scandinavian and Nordic creative expression”, says Gerbase. Arne Jacobsen designed its cutlery, Finn Juhl masterminded its stores and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe devised its sculptural jewellery. One Swedish royal, Sigvard Bernadotte, created certain quirky designs – for example, a silver telephone. “He’s responsible for some of the most extraordinarily eccentric works in silver,” enthuses Gerbase. “Eccentricity” is a word she employs often as she describes her mission to “reinstate the house” in the luxury landscape. She’s also keen to transmit the “breadth of work, beyond what is seen as Scandinavian minimalism”.

Step one is a collection of five sterling-silver accessories, released on 15 November. Each comprises a chain with an integrated lock and a trinket that recalls a different era of the 120-year-old house, from the bud motif dating from the art nouveau period to the art deco, acorn-shaped Oak motif originally designed by Danish silversmith Harald Nielsen. The collection also includes the Axis originally conceived by Bernadotte, and the Facet, a rounded stud by Kim Naver, a Danish textile-turned-jewellery designer.

All the chains are based on a design Gerbase uncovered in the archive and test-drove this past summer. “At first, I just tied it to the button placket of my jumpsuit. Then I attached it to a bag, then a key. It felt like a modern take on ornamentation.” In January, the line will be presented alongside an exhibition of influential archive pieces in a new store that opens next month in London’s New Bond Street. “There’s this idea that, as a brand, we may offer you the crayons,” says Gerbase. “But it’s up to you what you draw with them.”