Harry Sørby started his long career as an apprentice in the technical production department at David-Andersen in 1921. After studying design and sculpture in Norway at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), and in Germany, he started designing for D-A in 1929.

This was a dynamic period in Norwegian silver production. Sørby got to work with a group of young designers consisting of Ivar David-Andersen, ThorBjørn Lie-Jørgensen, and Guttorm Gagnes who were to be well known for their remarkable works in enamelled silver through Classicism and Functionalism to Scandinavian Design.

Although Sørby continued working for D-A, he started his own design workshop in 1946. During his career he got awards for designs in silver, glass, steel and iron.

Sørby was still one of the leading designers of David-Andersen in the sixties and seventies. Together with Bjørn Sigurd Østern he contributed to a new and modern look that continued the company’s strong tradition of Scandinavian Design. In the corpus works/silver hollow-ware and jewelry production, the influences from his studies in sculpture are obvious. The jewelry production covers elegant fine jewelry in gold with precious stones or pearls as well as pieces in a characteristic 1960s style with Norwegian semi precious stones. His style in modern jewelry was more slender, with a strong inspiration from botanics, more so than the other designers working with David-Andersen.