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 Grand Dressing Table, brass legs, black oak veneer, white ash wood drawers
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Designed in 1920 by Poul Henningsen (PH), the PH Grand Dressing Table is the larger relative of the PH Dressing Table, sharing all of the beautiful design features of its narrower co...
Brass
PH Dressing Table, black oak veneer, white ash wood drawers
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Luxurious as well as practical and functional, the PH Dressing Table is the perfect place to take a moment for oneself every day. Timelessly elegant, the Poul Henningsen designed Dressing Table will sit harmoniously in every bedroom and is set to become a design classic of the future. Designed in 1919, the PH Dressing Table is the first piece of furniture designed by Poul Henningsen. The body rests on the edges of eight legs and makes a clear design distinction between what is carrying and what is being carried. It is a beauty floating or dancing on high heels, like a ballerina dancing, yet at any time standing strong and solid on her many legs...
Wood, Oak
PH Dressing Table, mahogany veneer, white ash wood drawers
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Luxurious as well as practical and functional, the PH Dressing Table is the perfect place to take a moment for oneself every day. Timelessly elegant, the Poul Henningsen designed Dressing Table will sit harmoniously in every bedroom and is set to become a design classic of the future. Designed in 1919, the PH Dressing Table is the first piece of furniture designed by Poul Henningsen. The body rests on the edges of eight legs and makes a clear design distinction between what is carrying and what is being carried. It is a beauty floating or dancing on high heels, like a ballerina dancing, yet at any time standing strong and solid on her many legs...
Wood, Mahogany
PH Grand Dressing Table, Brass Legs, Mahogany Veneer, White Ashwood Drawers
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Designed in 1920 by Poul Henningsen (PH), the PH grand dressing table is the larger relative of the PH dressing table, sharing all of the beautiful design features of its narrower co...
Brass
PH Grand Dressing Table, brass legs, natural oak veneer, white ash wood drawers
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Designed in 1920 by Poul Henningsen (PH), the PH Grand Dressing Table is the larger relative of the PH Dressing Table, sharing all of the beautiful design features of its narrower co...
Brass
PH Dressing Table, Natural Oak Veneer, White Ashwood Drawers
By Poul Henningsen
Located in Copenhagen, DK
Luxurious as well as practical and functional, the PH dressing table is the perfect place to take a moment for oneself every day. Timelessly elegant, the Poul Henningsen designed Dressing Table will sit harmoniously in every bedroom and is set to become a design Classic of the future. Designed in 1919, the PH dressing table is the first piece of furniture designed by Poul Henningsen. The body rests on the edges of eight legs and makes a clear design distinction between what is carrying and what is being carried. It is a beauty floating or dancing on high heels, like a ballerina dancing, yet at any time standing strong and solid on her many legs...
Wood, Oak
Fritz Hansen Model S214 Tubular Steel Dressing Table, Mart Stam, Denmark 1930s
By Fritz Hansen, Mart Stam
Located in Detroit, MI
This rare Bauhaus tubular steel Model S214 dressing table was produced by Fritz Hansen in Denmark in the 1930s and is documented in the company’s 1934 product catalog. The design has...
Metal, Steel, Chrome
Chrome Bauhaus Dressing Table, 1930s
By Hynek Gottwald
Located in Praha, CZ
In very good original condition. Perfectly cleaned. Slight damage to the original mirror in the area.
Chrome
Mid-Century Modern Glass and Steel Dressing Table with Oval Mirror, 1960s
Located in Milano, IT
Mid-Century Modern Glass and Steel Dressing Table, 1960s, with Oval Mirror Elegant dressing table from the 1960s, featuring a sleek metal structure with a refined black opal glass t...
Metal
Bauhaus Chromed Tubular Steel Dressing Table, 1940s
Located in Żory, PL
This Bauhaus style oak dressing table with mirror was produced in the 1940s in Czechoslovakia. The frame is made of chromed tubular stee...
Steel, Chrome
Vintage Dressing Table, Wood and Metal with Glass, Netherlands, 1960s
Located in Lemmer, NL
vintage dressing table cabinet 1960s period 1960s design unknown condition good minor signs of use size 130 x 100 x 40 (hxbxd) details wood; metal; glass; item number 2772
Metal
Room '56 dressing table by Rob Parry for Dico, The Netherlands 1950's
By Rob Parry
Located in Steenwijk, NL
This rare dressing table was designed by Rob Parry for the former and renowned Dutch bed manufacturer DICO in the 1950's. This piece was part of the 'Kamer 56' (translated: Room '56)...
Metal
