Helga Exner née Menzel (born 1939) is a Czech-born Danish
goldsmith
A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), pl ...
who is recognized as one of Denmark's most significant contemporary
jewellery designers
Jewellery design is the art or profession of designing and creating jewellery. This is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7,000 years to the oldest known human societies in Indus Valley Civilization, Mesop ...
. From the age of 16, she was trained by Herbert Seufert in
Bad Godesberg
Bad Godesberg ( ksh, Bad Jodesbersch) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of West Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings ar ...
, Germany, where she met her future husband, the Danish goldsmith Bent Exner. After they married in 1961, the couple established a workshop near
Randers
Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Jablonec, Czechoslovakia, on 9 October 1939, Helga Exner is the daughter of the engineer Heinrich Menzel (1913–1979) and his wife Maria Theresia née Dressler. On 3 January 1961, she married the goldsmith Bent Exner (1932–2006). The marriage was dissolved in 1983.
She was brought up in a family which had created jewellery for several generations until the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
brought an end to their business in 1945. Her father was taken prisoner and her mother fled to East Germany with Helga and her three sisters. They managed to move to West Germany where six years later they were reunited with the father. Helga lived with her grandparents in Bavaria where she attended a Roman Catholic School. After completing her education in
Krefeld
Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...
, she served her goldsmith's apprenticeship with Herbert Seufert in
Bad Godesberg
Bad Godesberg ( ksh, Bad Jodesbersch) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of West Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings ar ...
near
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
, receiving her
journeyman
A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...
's diploma in 1960. It was there she met her husband to be who was working with Seufert. The couple moved to Denmark where they were married in 1961 and set up a successful business together in the village of Hald near
Randers
Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
, then in
Odder
Odder is a town in Jutland, Denmark. The town is the seat of Odder municipality, and is the biggest town in the municipality. It is located 20 km south of Aarhus and 16 km south-east of Skanderborg.
Odder is part of Business Region Aarhus, and ...
, where she created small reliefs in silver, enamel and amber depicting landscapes, architecture or seabirds. Helga Exner's work has been widely exhibited, most recently in 2019 in Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum.