Rare PH lamps

The right light 

Poul Henningsen (1894–1967), better known by his initials PH, enjoyed a versatile career as an architect, cultural critic and revue writer, but it was his lamps that made him famous from the 1920s. He grew up in the early days of electricity and, from a very young age, he began to come up with complicated theories on “the right light”.

His work with lamps primarily came about from his “attempt to tame the electric light”, as he put it, and his experiments led to the design of the anti-glare three-shade PH lamp in 1925, which was awarded the gold medal at the World Exhibition Paris that same year. This was PH’s breakthrough, and today the PH lamp, in all its guises, illuminates all over the world. It is the epitome of modern lighting, not to mention one of the earliest examples of Danish design to gain global appeal.  

A masterpiece

One of the most spectacular results of his light theories, PH’s “Spiral Lamp”, which was originally designed for the assembly hall at Aarhus University, is seen here in a smaller, yet equally rare version. The “Spiral Lamp” presented Louis Poulsen with a tough challenge in the 1940s – how to manufacture the spiral-shaped shade which appears to have been drawn as one long continuous line. It was a complicated and time consuming process, making the lamp extremely expensive to produce. The “Spiral Lamp” was first presented at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling (the Artists’ Autumn Exhibition) in 1942.   

We look forward to putting these masterpieces by PH under the hammer! 

Auction: Thursday 7 March at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen

Preview: 21-25 February at the same address

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