The Music and Light of Poul Henningsen

When this autumn's Live Design Auction takes place in Copenhagen on Thursday 30 September, we place the spotlight on the famous Dane, Poul Henningsen. In 1919, he established his own design studio, and like many other Danish architects, PH welcomed the new trends from the rest of Europe. He supported the functionalist ideas such as "Form Follows Function" and "Less is More", which saw the light of day after the First World War. The war experience manifested itself among European architects as a desire to reform society. In the early 1920s, PH began the landmark collaboration with the lamp company Louis Poulsen, which sparked the creation of the iconic glare-free lamp. In 1925, the PH lamp won a gold medal at the World's Fair in Paris, and this became the starting point for PH's fame and led to the development of countless lamps constructed around the same principle of light. In addition to his work as a designer, PH was the editor of the ‘cultural radical’ magazine "Kritisk-Revy", and as a revue writer he developed a sharp pen about the current issues in society. He often stood in opposition to the elite. This can be seen with the poem "They tie us down hand and mouth", which he wrote for playwright Kjeld Abell's revue "Dyveke" in 1940. In the poem, the shots were directed at the German censorship during the occupation, which led to PH being blacklisted by the Nazis.

At this auction, we also present several of the light maker's early lamps – all created as variations of the award-winning lamp from 1925 with the characteristic glare-free shades. Among the highlights is the "Septima". The lamp’s frame has a distinctive construction with seven shades of clear and frosted glass in fields strategically placed according to the principle of avoiding any direct glare from the light. It was first exhibited in 1928 at the Danish Museum of Art & Design in a prototype version. PH subsequently drew on the ideas from the model, which today stands as the ultimate trophy for all PH collectors. The lamp at the auction was made in the 1930s by PH’s regular collaborator Louis Poulsen. Equally sought after by collectors around the world is the auction's adjustable floor lamp, which belongs among PH's early lamps and already saw the light of day in 1927.