Just Andersen

(1884-1943)

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Just Andersen was born in Godhavn on the Disko Island, which is located on the west side of Greenland. His parents were inspector and probate manager in North Greenland, and Just Andersens creative gene was quite obviously stimulated and developed during his childhood. Through his parents' business he grew up with a view of the world, and in contact with researchers and explorers who were later famous and inscribed in the history of their exploration and records of Greenland - among them the famous explorers Robert Edwin Peary and Knud Rasmussen.

 

Just Andersen was a very creative multi talented man with a wealth of initiative. After he finished his studies at first the Danish Royal Academy of Art and after that The School of Danish Crafts in 1912 he designed pieces for the world famous Danish silversmith Georg Jensen.

 

In in 1918 he established himself with his own silversmith business "Just Andersen" that over the next almost 40 years produced a huge variety of decorative pieces, among them in the special "Disco metal" which is an alloy that was used for art objects. The alloy was invented by Just Andersen who after Disko Bay in Greenland and its exact composition was lost when the business was closed in the 1950´s. The Disco metal was significantly cheaper than bronze and, moreover, also easier to work with, which made it possible to make more inexpensive statuettes, vases and bowls in the metal that could look like heavily patinated bronze.