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 Stool, chrome, leather extreme indianred, leather upholstery, visible
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH Snake Stool is completely true to the original design and the use of chromed steel tubes, however updated for the 21st century to be available wi...
Chrome
PH Snake Stool, Chrome, Leather Extreme Indianred, Full Leather Upholstery
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH snake stool is completely true to the original design and the use of chromed steel tubes, however updated for the 21st century to be available wi...
Chrome
PH Snake Stool, Chrome, White Painted Satin Matt, Wood Seat, Visible Tubes
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH snake stool is completely true to the original design and the use of chromed steel tubes, however updated for the 21st century to be available with wood seating in five colorw...
Chrome
PH Snake Chair, chrome, red painted satin matt, wood seat/back, 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 room at home, in the apartment, i...
Chrome
PH Snake Stool, Chrome, Black Painted Satin Matt, Wood Seat, Visible Tubes
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH Snake stool is completely true to the original design and the use of chromed steel tubes, however updated for the 21st century to be available with wood seating in five colorw...
Chrome
Ph Snake Stool, Chrome, Leather Extreme Mocca, Leather Upholstery, Visible Tubes
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
The PH Snake Stool is completely true to the original design and the use of chromed steel tubes, however updated for the 21st century to be available wi...
Chrome
Modernist Tubular Stool, Red Leather, Chrome-Plated Steel, Slezák, 1930s
By Robert Slezák
Located in Brandys nad Labem, Středočeský kraj
Modernist Bauhaus - Art Deco chrome tabouret. Completely restored, new upholstery and leather. Maker: Slezák Company Source Czechia Period: 1930-1939.
Chrome, Steel
Zanotta Mezzadro Castiglioni Stool in Red with Chromium Plated Steel Base
By Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Zanotta
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Zanotta Mezzadro Castiglioni Stool in Red with Chromium Plated Steel Stem & Beech Base Chromium-plated steel stem. Seat lacquered in the colours:...
Beech
Modern Vintage Red Stool Mezzadro Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni 1950 Italy
By Zanotta, Achille Castiglioni
Located in Vienna, AT
Modern Italian vintage stool Mezzadro by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni 1950s for Zanotta circa 1978. An iconic gorgeous stool from metal and beech in silver, red and brown color tones. This design icon Mezzadro designed 1950s and manufactured circa 1978 is an early example and in good condition with some signs of age and use, like corrosion and minor abrasions. Marked with the company's name underneath the seat. This splashy stool with a tractor seat in fresh red color brings a playful vibe into any interior and opens up your Traditional, Rustic or Contemporary interior. The Mezzadro stool features rural and simple elements and turned into a an iconic design piece, which is represented in many museums and collections. Easy removable seat, support rod from chromed metal and beechwood, all these simple elements forms a timeless and brightly statement piece. We love this stool in particular for its fresh vibe and we love to combine with Traditional desks...
Metal
Bauhaus Vintage Red Metal Swiveling Stool Margarete Schuette-Lihotzky, 1920s
Located in Vienna, AT
Bauhaus vintage red metal swiveling stool designed by Margarete Schuette-Lihotzky, 1920s. Margarete Schuette-Lihotzky, (1897-2000). Margarete Schuette-Lihotzky was one of the first female architects and studied under Oskar Strnad and Heinrich Tessenow at the University of Applied Arts. She was popular through her design of the Frankfurter kitchen...
Metal
Paperclip Chair in Tubular Steel 1970's Canada Kinetics
By Hugh Hamilton & Philip Salmon
Located in St.Petersburg, FL
A Classic 1970s steel "paperclip" chair in original fire truck red enamel paint. Bright and shiny - a sculpture that happens to be a chair.
Stainless Steel
Piet Hein for Fritz Hansen Barstool in Red-Brown Upholstery
By Piet Hein, Fritz Hansen
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Piet Hein for Fritz Hansen, barstool, metal, faux leather, Denmark, 1970s A design by Piet Hein for Fritz Hansen, this bar stool with its modesty and simplicity, is an excellent ch...
Metal
