In Spring 2022, Louis Poulsen reintroduces whole number sizes PH 3/3 and PH 5/5 pendants from the world-famed Danish designer Poul Henningsen. The whole number PH pendants enable everyone to enhance the quality of general lighting, while expanding application areas with the distinct three-shade lamps, designed to hang high.
Poul Henningsen’s celebrated three-shade lamps are all rooted in System PH, which he worked on tirelessly for years, over a century ago. The first lamps to appear in the 1920s were in fact referred to as whole number sizes. Henningsen designed them specifically to emit a flawless and glare-free general illumination, when placed high up in a room, which also gave them a rounder appearance than the more widely known hybrid sizes that were launched subsequently.
During his lifetime, Henningsen kept developing System PH from which he created around 1000 lamps altogether, fulfilling every possible lighting task. In addition to the whole number sizes, he designed the hybrid sizes, e.g., the PH 3/2 pendant, which is to hang low and provide ideal lighting and a warm atmosphere.
The mathematical naming of the lamps stems from Henningsens rational work with System PH, where the sizes of the shades, their materials and surfaces could all be combined to create the best lighting for specific tasks. The names refer to fractions based in part on the diameter size of the upper shade. When the top shade is paired with the middle shade, the lower shade and the bottom bowl with which the lamp was developed originally in the proportions of 3:2:1, then it would be a whole number size, like the PH 3/3 and the PH 5/5.
The PH 3/3 and 5/5 cover a broad range of application areas, as they can ideally be placed high in a e.g., hallway or living room, or at a lower height above a dining table or kitchen counter. Regardless of the height or placement of the pendants, the shades ensure a diffused and comfortable glare-free light, characteristic of the reflective System PH. Depending on the materials and surfaces of the shades, the lighting profile varies slightly from fixture to fixture.
The translucent three-layered mouth blown opal glass version of the PH 3/3 for instance, creates a warm glow around the pendant. Whereas the PH 3/3 and PH 5/5 versions with matt black metal shades and white inner sides reflect a fine and primarily downward directed light. The versions with a matt black metal top shade combined with translucent opal glass middle and lower shades produce a warm glow around the pendant as well. All variants include a diffuser in frosted glass that is easy to insert for an even softer light distribution.
The PH 3/3 and PH 5/5 correspond just as well with classic architectural settings, as they do with the most modern surroundings, be it grandiose high-ceilinged spaces or small rooms and whether in private residences or in retail concept stores, hotels, restaurants, or in any space that could do with premium lighting and a special ray of elegance from a modern Danish classic.
The PH 3/3 and PH 5/5 are available in stores from spring 2022.
About Poul Henningsen
Poul Henningsen was born in Copenhagen to the famous Danish writer Agnes Henningsen. He never graduated as an architect but studied at the Technical School in Frederiksberg from 1911-14 and then at the Technical College in Copenhagen from 1914-17. He started out designing traditional functionalistic architecture, but over the years he changed his professional focus to concentrate on lighting, which is what he is most famous for. He also expanded professionally into writing, becoming a journalist and an author. For a short period at the beginning of World War II, he was head architect of the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. But, like many other creative people, he was forced to flee Denmark during the German occupation. However, he soon became an important member of the Danish colony of artists living in Sweden. His lifelong collaboration with Louis Poulsen began in 1925 and lasted until his death. To this day, Louis Poulsen still benefits from his genius. Poul Henningsen was also the first editor of the company magazine NYT. Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen, CEO of Louis Poulsen at the time, gave the magazine to PH as a gift because he had been terminated from the Danish newspaper for which he worked (in the opinion of the newspaper management, his opinions were too radical). Poul Henningsen’s pioneering work on the relationship between light structures, shadows, glare, colour reproduction and man’s need for light remains the foundation of the lighting theories still practised by Louis Poulsen.
About Louis Poulsen
Founded in 1874, the Danish lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen creates products that encompass the duality of design and light. Every detail in the design has a purpose. Every design starts and ends with light. Louis Poulsen offers a range of lighting aimed at the commercial and domestic lighting markets, with illumination and solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications. In close partnership with designers, architects and other talents like Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Øivind Slaatto, Alfred Homann, Oki Sato and Louise Campbell, Louis Poulsen has established itself as one of the key global suppliers of architectural and decorative lighting and has a global presence with showrooms in Copenhagen, Miami, Oslo, Tokyo, Singapore and Dusseldorf.