Jens Hoyer Hansen
| Jens Høyer Hansen | |
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Jens Hoyer Hansen, Gold and Silversmith, based in Nelson, New Zealand
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| Born | 14 July 1940 |
| Died | 10 August 1999 (aged 59) |
| Occupation | Jeweller |
| Known for | Created prop ring for Lord of the Rings |
Jens Høyer Hansen (14 July 1940 – 10 August 1999) was a Danish-born jeweller who settled in New Zealand and did most of his well-known work in Nelson, New Zealand. Hansen was one of a number of European-trained jewellers who came to New Zealand in the 1960s and transformed contemporary jewellery in the country, including Tanya Ashken, Kobi Bosshard and Gunter Taemmler.
He was the designer and creator of the prop ring used as The One Ring in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies.
Born in Gram, Denmark, in 1940, Hansen moved to New Zealand with his parents and siblings in 1952.
After undertaking a traditional jewellery apprenticeship at Sweeney's Jewellers in Auckland, he held his first solo exhibition at New Vision Gallery in 1960. He then returned to Europe and worked at A. Michelsen, the Court Jewellers, and the small Borup workshop in Copenhagen between 1962 and 1965. He also attended night courses at the School of Applied Arts & Industrial design, Copenhagen. He married Gurli Winter in 1965 and they travelled to New Zealand together, and opened their first jewellery business in Glen Eden, Auckland before moving to Nelson in 1968.
His first workshop in Nelson was initially in the couple's own home in Alton Street. He then moved to Hardy Street in 1970, and then to its current corner Selwyn Place and Trafalgar Square location three years later.
In 1975 he received the Queen Elizabeth 11 Arts Council travel grant to work as a guest at the Goldsmiths High School, Copenhagen, and left New Zealand again for two years.
Upon his return to Nelson with Gurli and his two sons Halfdan and Thorkild, he became instrumental, with Gavin Hitchings, in establishing jewellery classes at Nelson Polytechnic (now Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology).
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