Magnus Stephensen

Magnus Stephensen trained as an architect from 1924 at the Academy of Arts, Copenhagen and graduated in 1930. From 1930-1931 he was employed at the architects Edvard Thomsen and Frits Schlegels design studio. He spent 1931 in Athens at the French school as well as travelling in Europe, the far East and USA.

Back in Copenhagen in 1932 he opened his own design studio and continued collaborating with architects Thomsen and Schlegels. During the 1930s Stephensen was the architect behind a great number of houses and buildings in the Copenhagen area.

In 1938 he started working with silversmith and designer Kay Bojesen making designs and drawings for silver to be produced by Kay Bojesen. His designs from this period are simple, refined and smooth, inspired both by Kay Bojesens style and by Japanese handicrafts. Stephensen's philosophy was that the function of a silver item should be apparent from its shape and form. The collaboration with Bojesen lasted until 1952. From 1952 he designed hollowware and flatware, both silver and steel for Georg Jensen. Among his most famous silver designs is the flatware Fregat (called Argo in English) from 1961 and the steel flatware Tuja from 1955.

In 1956 Stephensen started making designs for Royal Copenhagen and Alumina.

He closed his studio in 1971.

Stephensen's designs are both in Design Museum Denmark and in museums worldwide. He won three gold medals at the Triennale in Milan in 1951 and 1957 for silver designs and two Grand Prixs at the Triennale in Milan in 1954 for works in steel and silver as well as a silver medal in 1960.