Svend Aage Jensen

Behind many of the patterned Søholm ceramics of the 1950s and 1960s stands a partnership rather than a single name. Svend Aage Jensen, a Danish ceramicist working for the Søholm factory in Rønne on Bornholm, was the decorator in that partnership: while colleague Holm Sørensen gave the pieces their shape, Jensen designed the surfaces that make them recognisable, above all in the Burgundia series introduced in 1956.

Burgundia is the collection most often linked to his name. It ran from the mid-1950s into the mid-1960s and covered bowls, vases, table lamps and the large floor vases that remain its most striking pieces. Jensen's decoration is geometric and graphic, and it is this pattern, applied consistently across very different shapes and sizes, that gives the series its identity within the Søholm range. Dealers also attribute to the same duo a sunflower design known as Solsikke, a 1950s pattern with stylised flower heads set against a brown ground.

Jensen's name also appears on Søholm stoneware vases and table lamps from the 1950s and 1960s, the decades in which the Bornholm factory built up its range of stoneware. In his work the emphasis lies on the surface, on pattern and contrast, rather than on the form itself.

Biographical records for Jensen are scarce, and no reliable dates for his birth, training or later life could be confirmed. His reputation today rests on the objects, which have become steady favourites among collectors of Danish mid-century ceramics, particularly the Burgundia floor vases and lamps.

When identifying a piece, check the base: Søholm wares are typically marked with the factory name, Bornholm or Denmark and a model number, and some carry additional initials. On Burgundia items the model number and the unmistakable geometric decoration usually settle the attribution, with Holm Sørensen credited for the form and Svend Aage Jensen for the decor.