Jens Hoyer Hansen

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.

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.

Life 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 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.

During the 1980s, he served as an advisor on the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand, and was a founding member of Details, the Jewellers, Bone and Stone Carvers of New Zealand. Two silver jewellery pieces retained in permanent collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand's National Museum. The Golden Kiwi Super Rugby Trophy

The One Ring Peter Jackson's Art Direction team first approached Jens Hansen in March 1999, asking him for a design that would have the power and presence of the fabled ring in J. R. R. Tolkien's story. Jens' eldest son Halfdan Hansen runs the Jens Hansen workshop, Today, two qualified in-house jewellers Zane Colegate

The Legacy Collection The Jens Hansen Legacy Collection marks four decades of timeless design. The Legacy Collection is a selection of authentic designs recreated by hand from Jens' original production notes and includes classic experimental Jens pieces.

Jens' work always had a constant undercurrent of Danish architectural simplicity, but he liked to continually push the design boundaries. To mark the 40th Anniversary of Jens Hansen in Nelson in 2008, specific designs were selected, whose form had endured and defied fashion, but that had not been made for decades. These were recreated as the Legacy Collection. Every year around the time of Jens' birthday, the collection expands.