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 Snake Chair, Chrome, Leather Extreme Mocca, Leather Upholstery, Visible Tubes
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH snake chairs flowing lines within its steel tube design are inspired by the strong yet flexible body of a snake. It is multi-use and fits any roo...
Chrome
PH Snake Chair, Chrome, Leather Extreme Walnut, Full Leather Upholstery
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH snake chairs flowing lines within its steel tube design are inspired by the strong yet flexible body of a snake. It is multi-use and fits any roo...
Chrome
PH Snake Chair, Chrome, Leather Natural Un-Dyed, Full Leather Upholstery
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH snake chairs flowing lines within its steel tube design are inspired by the strong yet flexible body of a snake. It is multi-use and fits any roo...
Chrome
PH Snake Chair, Chrome, Leather Extreme Walnut, Leather Upholstery, Visible Tube
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH snake chairs flowing lines within its steel tube design are inspired by the strong yet flexible body of a snake. It is multi-use and fits any roo...
Chrome
PH Snake Chair, Chrome, Leather Natural Un-Dyed, Leather Upholstery, Visible
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH Snake chairs flowing lines within its steel tube design are inspired by the strong yet flexible body of a snake. It is multi-use and fits any roo...
Chrome
PH Snake Chair, Chrome, Leather Extreme Indianred, Full Leather Upholstery
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH snake chairs flowing lines within its steel tube design are inspired by the strong yet flexible body of a snake. It is multi-use and fits any roo...
Chrome
Contemporary Chair 'FF Swivel' Chrome, Cognac Leather
By Friends & Founders
Located in Paris, IDF
The 'FF Swivel' chair designed by Ida L. Hildebrand for Friends & Founders Model shown in main picture: - Chrome frame - Cognac Leather Upholstery available in a wide range of...
Steel
Contemporary Chair 'FF Swivel' Chrome, Dakar Leather
By Friends & Founders
Located in Paris, IDF
The 'FF Swivel' chair designed by Ida L. Hildebrand for Friends & Founders Model shown in main picture: - Chrome frame - Leather Dakar Nevotex 0197 Upholstery available in a wide range of fabrics and leathers Price may vary depending on the fabric and type of metal for the legs. Contemporary design studio Friends & Founders was founded in 2003 by Ida Linea and Rasmus Hilderbrand in Copenhagen, Denmark. For this couple, designing and creating is a “geometrical performance act”. The lines and shapes are sleek and pure; often organic. And sometimes, it contrasts with the masculinity of the materials used, as marble or metal. The creations signed by Friends & Founders may look simple. In reality, the pieces are a perfect balance between functional comfort and elegance of lines and design. The FF COLLECTION was developed with a focus on sustainability. At first glance the FF chairs...
Steel
Arne Jacobsen Model 3101 'Ant' Dining Chair in Leather & Steel
By Fritz Hansen, Arne Jacobsen
Located in Esbjerg, DK
Arne Jacobsen dining chairs, new upholstered with black aniline leather. Chromed base. Model 3101 "Ant", made by Fritz Hansen.
Steel
Leather and Chrome Olivier Mourgue Cubique chair by Airborne, France 1968
By Olivier Mourgue, Airborne International
Located in Echt, NL
Beautiful Cubique chair in very good conditio. Designed by Oliver Mourgue Manufactured by Airborne France, 1968 Sculptural “Cubique” lounge chairs, designed by Olivier Mourgue an...
Metal, Chrome
Arne Jacobsen Model 3107 Dining Chair, mokka Aniline Leather, Denmark
By Fritz Hansen, Arne Jacobsen
Located in Esbjerg, DK
Arne Jacobsen dining chair new upholstered with mokka elegance aniline leather. Base of chrome steel tube. Model 3107 Syveren, made by Fritz Hansen.
Leather
Arne Jacobsen Model 3101 'Ant' Dining Chair in Leather & Steel
By Fritz Hansen, Arne Jacobsen
Located in Esbjerg, DK
Arne Jacobsen dining chairs, new upholstered with mokka aniline leather. Chromed base. Model 3101 "Ant", made by Fritz Hansen.
Steel
