Back in 1874, the birth of a company that faced a new way of conceiving light dates back to 1874. We are in Denmark where every form must be in close contact with a specific function and it is related to it: Louis Poulsen decides to apply this concept to the newborn lamps for the home and establishes strong collaborations with artists, architects, designers and talents able to follow his "enlightened" vision. Alongside his genius designers such as Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Øivind Slaatto, Alfred Homann, Oki Sato who succeed in making Poulsen's line of thought material in terms of new concepts that light up particular atmospheres where the geometries of the essential invade the spaces and touch the people who occupy them. The company continuously offers lighting solutions that follow the life-concept of the Scandinavian style, following modern design evolutions. The many showrooms and countless retailers of the Louis Poulsen line, provide assistance and support in the choices of customers who want to approach for the first time a new concept of space lighting. In December 2018, Louis Poulsen became part of the Flos B&B Italia Group, a major international group in the high-end furniture and lighting sector that is dedicated to sustainable design, focusing on values such as respect for the planet, attention to people, and the enhancement of culture. In addition to FLOS and B&B Italia, the same group includes Maxalto, Arclinea, Azucena, FENDI Casa, Audo and Lumens.
History of an icon: the PH Artichoke lamp
Louis Poulsen, in his industry, has never stopped, and most likely never will, to produce a design jewel, made with wisdom and almost maniacal geometry by the artist Poul Henningsen. This designer, who has collaborated with the Poulsen company practically since entering the market, is gifted with innate genius, crazy and visionary enough, but rational and focused on everyday life. He designed over 100 models of lamps, all of which had a single objective, that of maximizing the light and minimizing the glare that comes from it, so as to give the environment the right mix of relaxation and perfect vision. Henningsen's works for Louis Poulsen began a glittering career, winning numerous awards and recognition as early as 1925, when critics of the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels moderne in Paris awarded the series of lamps presented a precious gold medal. During the following 1926, Louis Poulsen successfully started the distribution of these masterpieces of light all over the world. Even today, PH Artichoke still makes a good impression in numerous public and private collections. The special design of the "layered lampshade" has given rise to many theories about inspiration: a game of alternating plates, bowls and cups, the simulation of a stylized artichoke or the famous pinecone concept. Production comes to a complete standstill with the outbreak of World War II.
After the forced pause of the war, Louis Poulsen restarts production and after the success obtained by Henningsen in the realization of sumptuous PH Artichoke (as many as 72 copper leaves in the shape of a trapeze for each lamp were made for the Langelinie Pavilion, a famous and luxurious restaurant in Copenhagen), they arrive for this object received unlimited praise from critics, press and public. In 1959, on the occasion of the exhibition The House for the Day After Tomorrow, a rainbow version was created. From the following 1960, Poulsen reached impressive numbers in the production of Artichoke, distributing it practically everywhere, in copper, steel or painted metal versions. From that moment on, the fame of this lamp has never waned, it was and still is the undisputed best seller of the company. Henningsen's lamps today sell for quite a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the large auction houses you can also find unpublished valuables, such as the House of the Future or the Spiral, of which he created two versions, wall mounted for the Scala Concert Hall in Århus and ceiling mounted for the University of Århus.
The shape of light for Louis Poulsen
The company continues its ascent towards the success of "lighting forms", undisputed leader for its concept of satisfying and relaxing light diffusion. The solutions he presents for pendant lamps, wall, floor, recessed and table lamps are precious objects for interior design, made with high quality materials such as blown glass, copper, metal, polycarbonate, aluminium, opal glass, PVC and acrylic glass. One of Louis Poulsen's most recent achievements is signed Olafur Eliasson. The artist has created OE QUASI LIGHT, a complex and fascinating lamp with extreme geometric shapes. The two objects that compose it are positioned almost like in a nest, one inside the other: externally we find an icosahedron, a rigid aluminium geometry with 20 faces and 12 vertices, internally, as if suspended in the void, the second dodecahedron structure with 12 faces and 20 vertices. The light emission is totally spherical, the lamp can take on different shapes depending on the position of the person looking at it and is in fact conceived with completely personal perspectives. Two Louis Poulsen lamps, the PH5 and the PH5 Mini, have been presented in limited editions for the current year. Made with brass screens alternating with as many white screens, when turned off they assume a warm and intense color that gives the environment the charm of a refined and modern design, when turned on they represent the exaltation of the concepts always pursued by this company in spreading light in the rooms.
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