A Glimpse at Danish Lighting Firm Louis Poulsen’s Rarest Designs

MILAN — Upscale Danish lighting firm Louis Poulsen‘s 150th anniversary celebrations continue, this time on the streets of New York City. The firm, which is part of the Flos B&B Italia Group galaxy of brands, has partnered with Sotheby’s New York to auction — for the first time — some rare designs by late legend Poul Henningsen.

On Thursday, 12 pieces acquired from Poul Henningsen expert and historian Steen Bo Anderson in 1999 will go on the block. They were designed between 1894 and 1967 and include the PH Spiral pendant, a model originally designed for the University of Aarhus; an Artichoke pendant lamp originally envisaged for The House of the Day After Tomorrow, an ultramodern home built as an exhibition space in Copenhagen in 1959, and the PH 2/2 Piano, a 1930s design that was created specifically to be placed on a piano. The estimated value of these designs runs the gamut between $20,000 and $150,000.

These archival designs are on display to the public until Thursday and are part of Sotheby’s Important Design auction that will kick off that day at 11 a.m. at 1334 York Avenue and will also include midcentury works by bygone French furniture designer Jean Prouvé, Swiss designer Pierre Jeanneret, and more.

“This extraordinary collection highlights the brilliance of Poul Henningsen, a designer truly ahead of his time. Every lamp in this sale shows Henningsen’s commitment to shaping light and eliminating glare, a guiding principle that continues to inspire our designs today,” Louis Poulsen chief design officer Monique Faber told WWD, adding that Henningsen believed in the philosophy that “form follows function.” An emblem of that philosophy, she said, was the PH 8/6 ceiling light commissioned for a Copenhagen car show, and envisaged to illuminate the vast exhibition hall.

Louis Poulsen was established in 1874 by Ludvig R. Poulsen as the Copenhagen Direct Wine Import Company. When Copenhagen’s second power station was inaugurated in 1892, Poulsen decided to open a shop that sold tools and electrical supplies, which was later spearheaded by his nephew Louis Poulsen. Things really started to change in the 1920s when designer, architect, writer and activist Poul Henningsen came into the fold and created a three-layer method to assuage his aversion to glare. The PH lamp, as it came to be, is still one of its bestsellers and was the predecessor to the Artichoke, which would come to life over three decades later. 

Henningsen was later joined in Louis Poulsen’s design history by Danish designers and architects Vilhelm Lauritzen, Arne Jacobsen and Verner Panton, and modern ones like Olafur Eliasson and well-known architect Anne Boysen. These designers propelled the establishment of showrooms in Oslo, Tokyo, Singapore, Dusseldorf and, most recently, New York City.

The 150th celebrations kicked off during the 11th edition of 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen in June, with an exhibit named “A Heart of Light,” which explored the essence of the PH Artichoke. In addition, Louis Poulsen released a coffee table book with Phaidon, written by TF Chan, called “The First House of Light.” The book is comprised of seven chapters, never-published-before photos and historical anecdotes.

Henningsen’s designs remain modern marvels, especially those that never made it into production. Case in point: his intricate three-metal Spiral chandelier featured in this auction, which Faber said “was so complex to produce that mass production was impossible,” she added. “It’s incredible to have a chance to see this remarkable level of craftsmanship firsthand.”