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.
PH Stool, Brass Legs, Black Oak Veneer, Extreme Walnut Leather Seat
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH stool is perfectly proportioned to match the PH dressing table or stand-alone as a functional sculpture. The PH stool is available in mahogany, bla...
Leather, Oak
PH Stool, Brass Legs, Natural Oak Veneer, Extreme Black Leather Seat
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH stool is perfectly proportioned to match the PH dressing table or stand-alone as a functional sculpture. The PH stool is available in mahogany, blac...
Leather, Oak
PH Stool, wood legs, natural oak veneer, extreme walnut leather seat
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH Stool is perfectly proportioned to match the PH Dressing Table or stand-alone as a functional sculpture. The PH Stool is available in mahogany, bla...
Oak, Leather
PH Stool, wood legs, black oak veneer, extreme walnut leather seat
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH Stool is perfectly proportioned to match the PH Dressing Table or stand-alone as a functional sculpture. The PH Stool is available in mahogany, bla...
Leather, Oak
Ph Stool, Brass Legs, Black Oak Veneer, Extreme Black Leather Seat
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH Stool is perfectly proportioned to match the PH Dressing Table or stand-alone as a functional sculpture. The PH Stool is available in mahogany, bla...
Leather, Oak
PH Stool, Brass Legs, Mahogany Veneer, Red Lamb Leather on Panels and Seat
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH stool is perfectly proportioned to match the PH dressing table or stand-alone as a functional sculpture. The PH stool is available in maho...
Leather, Mahogany
Stool in Mahogany, Leather and Brass by Frits Henningsen, 1940s
By Frits Henningsen
Located in Limhamn, Skåne län
This very rare stool, designed by Frits Henningsen and produced by his own cabinetmaking workshop in Denmark during the 1940s, exemplifies his dedication to traditional craftsmanship...
Brass
Roberts Counter Stool with Wood Inlay Walnut Brassy Gold
Located in Cincinnati, US
This sleek stool has a thin carved wooden seat that rests on a steel tubing base. The elegant seat is curved for seamless comfort while displaying a stunning intersecting diagonal ac...
Steel
Contemporary Stool in Carved Maple, Brass and Leather
By Vincent Pocsik
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Bone Stool001 from Series 001 by Vincent Pocsik. Carved maple stool with leather cushion top and brass accents. Shown here in a bone and natural vegetan leather top. Vincent Pocsik finds the balance between old and new fabrication techniques working in conjunction to find an anatomical form that creates its own presence. Series 001 is about finding that point in each piece, personifying it, letting it find itself in the scale and figure, then stopping it at the place where it seems most stabile. All furniture pieces are made inside his shop in Los Angeles. All glass, metal and upholstery work is done with local Los Angeles craftsmen. Dimension: 16" L x 16" W x 18” H - Custom sizing available for: counter stool, bar stool and floor stool.
Brass
Mid-Century Style Aretha Bar Stool in Leather and Walnut Wood by Mavo Atelier
By Mavo Atelier
Located in Trofa, PT
A celebration of form, materiality, and craftsmanship, the Aretha Bar Stool stands as a sculptural piece designed for those who seek artistry in everyday living. Its silhouette draws...
Metal, Brass
Minimalist Talos Stool With Brass Legs
Located in Freamunde, PT
Raw elegance meets structural purity in the Talos stool — a bold, architectural statement distilled to its essential form. Rooted in Brutalist principles, Talos is defined by its mon...
Metal, Brass, Stainless Steel
Stool in Teak and Wool Fabric from Kvadrat by Svend Ellekær, 1962
By Svend Ellekær
Located in Limhamn, Skåne län
Stool in Teak and Wool Fabric from Kvadrat™ by Svend Ellekær, 1962 Additional Information: Material: Teak and wool fabric from Kvadrat™ Style: Mid cent...
Teak, Fabric, Wool
