Poul Henningsen

Background

Poul Henningsen (1894–1967), known in Denmark simply as PH, was a Danish author, critic, architect and designer and one of the leading figures of Danish cultural life between the World Wars. He trained at Copenhagen Technical College and the Technical University of Denmark from 1911 to 1917 but never graduated, choosing to work as an inventor and painter, and from 1920 freelanced as an architect and designer.

Signature Style

Henningsen treated light as a scientific problem. His lamps analyse how the light from the bulb is reflected and baffled so that it is never glaring but warm and soft. In 1926–27 he turned the shades he had designed for the Forum building into the three-shade system, a rational family of lamps whose shades follow set proportions.

Notable Works

• Paris Lamp, gold medal at the 1925 Paris exhibition
• PH three-shade system (1926–27) for Louis Poulsen
• PH Grand Piano (1930)
• PH 5 and PH Artichoke (1958)

Legacy

His lifelong collaboration with Louis Poulsen, begun in 1924, became the cornerstone of the company's design philosophy, and PH lamps are still produced and exhibited in museums. He was also a writer and editor – of the periodical Kritisk Revy and the polemic What About Culture? (1933) – and directed Danmarksfilmen (1935).