The name Poul Henningsen is synonymous with the best and most innovative modern Scandinavian lamps and other lighting. The Danish designer created a signature vocabulary of fixtures with tiered and layered shades in sculptural arrangements that are at once naturalistic and geometric.
Henningsen grew up in a town on the outskirts of Copenhagen and studied architecture at the Technical University of Denmark. He would become a noted art critic, journalist and screenwriter, but his first love was lighting design.
Henningsen’s childhood home was illuminated by oil lamps. When his family switched to electrified lighting, he was alarmed and repelled by the harsh glare cast by an incandescent bulb, and in his late teens he began conducting quasi-scientific experiments to measure which materials and methods best diffused or reflected light to give it a warm brightness. His work came to the attention of the lighting-fixtures firm Louis Poulsen, which sponsored the development of a prototype lamp. The design won a gold medal at the 1925 Paris Expositions Internationales des Arts Decóratifs et Industriels Modernes — from which the term Art Deco derives. The lamp, whose three-part shade is said to be inspired by the arrangement of a dinner plate atop a soup bowl atop a teacup, became the basis for Henningsen’s most successful design, the PH 4/3 desk lamp.
All told, Henningsen would design some 100 lighting fixtures in his career. Some of his most notable creations are hanging lamps, which include the Septima (1929), a pendant composed of seven graduated frosted-glass layers; the Spiral (1942), made of a single ribbon of enameled aluminum; and the Artichoke lamp (1958), whose 70 glass or metal fins in a staggered and graduated arrangement on a central steel frame resemble those of its namesake. The last is likely Henningsen’s masterwork and an icon of mid-20th-century design. Like all Henningsen lighting designs, it is striking, sculptural and — thanks to his insistence on the primacy of the quality of the light cast — superbly functional.
Find a collection of authentic Poul Henningsen table lamps, floor lamps and other lighting on 1stDibs.
Poul Henningsen PH 3/5-2 Table Lamp – “Pat. Appl.” 1927
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Egå, DK
Exceptional and early PH 3/2 table lamp by Poul Henningsen, dating from 1926–1928, marked “Pat. Appl.” Executed in brass with frosted shades, this rare model represents one of the ea...
Brass
Poul Henningsen PH-2/2 Pendant – Louis Poulsen
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Egå, DK
Poul Henningsen PH-2/2 Lamp – Louis Poulsen Rare Poul Henningsen PH-2/2 lamp, stamped “PATENTED PH-2”, produced by Louis Poulsen. This elegant model features opal single layer shades...
Glass, Bakelite
Poul Henningsen PH piano lamp, 1930s Patented
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Egå, DK
Poul Henningsen PH-1/1 Piano Lamp – Louis Poulsen A rare Poul Henningsen PH-1/1 piano lamp featuring a brass arm and a lacquered metal base, produced by Louis Poulsen. This refined d...
Metal, Brass
Poul Henningsen PH 3.5/3 Pendant Lamp, Patented, Denmark, 1930s
Located in Egå, DK
Poul Henningsen PH 3.5/3 Pendant Lamp, Patented, Denmark, 1930s An original PH 3.5/3 pendant lamp designed by Poul Henningsen, Denmark, circa 1930s, produced under Henningsen’s orig...
Metal, Brass
Poul Henningsen PH piano lamp, 1930s Patented
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Egå, DK
Poul Henningsen PH 1/1 Piano Lamp, Louis Poulsen, Denmark, 1930s A rare and elegant PH 1/1 piano lamp designed by Poul Henningsen, produced by Louis Poulsen, Denmark, circa 1930s. ...
Metal, Brass
Poul Henningsen PH 3/2 Table Lamp – “Pat. Appl.” 1926
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Egå, DK
Poul Henningsen PH 3/2 Table Lamp – “Pat. Appl.” 1926 Exceptional and early PH 3/2 table lamp by Poul Henningsen, dating from 1926–1928, marked “Pat. Appl.” Executed in brass with y...
Brass, Copper
Poul Henningsen 'PH 3-2' Opaline Glass and Chrome Wall Lamp for Louis Poulsen
By Poul Henningsen, Louis Poulsen
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Poul Henningsen 'PH 3-2' Opal Glass and Chrome Wall Lamp for Louis Poulsen. The 'PH3/2' wall lamps are an addition to the Louis Poulsen 'PH' collection and are based on Poul Henning...
Aluminum, Brass, Chrome
Serge Mouille Mid-Century Modern White One Stright Arm Two Swivels Wall Lamp
By Serge Mouille
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Wall lamp model "One Stright Arm with Two Swivels Wall Lamp" designed by Serge Mouille in 1958. Manufactured by Editions Serge Mouille in France. The production of lamps, wall lig...
Aluminum, Bronze, Steel
Poul Henningsen 'PH 2-1' Opaline Glass and Chrome Wall Lamp for Louis Poulsen
By Louis Poulsen, Poul Henningsen
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Poul Henningsen 'PH 2-1' Opal Glass and Chrome Wall Lamp for Louis Poulsen These refined wall lamps are an addition to the Louis Poulsen PH collection and are based on Poul Henningsen's original drawings from the late 1920s and early 1930s. Poul Henningsen designed hundreds of lamps based on the three-shade-system he developed in 1926, pioneering unequalled lighting quality for all types of needs. Executed in mouth-blown white opal glass, the shades are meticulously crafted at Louis Poulsen's factory in Vejen, by Louis Poulsen's own staff – a craft only very few are trained in. They are then carefully perched atop a high luster chrome-plated spun brass arm and attached to matching chrome...
Aluminum, Brass, Chrome
Swedish Designer, Adjustable Wall Light, White Lacquer Metal Brass, Sweden 1940s
Located in High Point, NC
An adjustable brass and white-lacquered metal wall light designed and produced in Sweden, 1940s. Dimensions variable, measured as illustrated in first image. Dimensions of back...
Metal, Brass
Serge Mouille Mid-Century Modern White One Rotating Straight Arm Wall Lamp
By Serge Mouille
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Wall lamp model "one rotating stright arm wall lamp" designed by Serge Mouille in 1954. Manufactured by Editions Serge Mouille in France. The production of lamps, wall lights and ...
Aluminum, Bronze, Steel
Wilhelm Wagenfeld Glass Wall Lamp Sconce White Modern Light, Lindner 1950s
By Ifö Electric, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Lindner, Sigvard Bernadotte
Located in Silkeborg, Silkeborg
Original vintage double wall sconce by German designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld. It was manufactured by Lindner Wandleuchten ca 1950s. The lamp h...
Ceramic, Glass
