In the spirit of Arne Jacobsen’s love of nature, Louis Poulsen will introduce the AJ Garden Bollard in the spring of 2023 for superior outdoor lighting. Throughout his life, Jacobsen spent countless hours outdoors, inspecting plants, taking photos of them and painting them, so it is easy to understand why florae were an inspiration to him.
Imagine Jacobsen out on the lawn, inspecting a tiny herb while surrounded by the lamp design for which he is most famous. The AJ Garden’s minimalistic and distinct shape as well as its flawless lighting make it the perfect addition to any outdoor space. The AJ Garden Bollard has the same sophisticated appearance as the AJ Mini Table Lamp, which it is based on.
Jacobsen also used his keen interest in botany to design several gardens himself, including the grounds of his three homes. The most famous is the one surrounding his house at Strandvejen 413, which is just outside Copenhagen, where he lived from 1951 until his death in 1971. This 300 m2 garden differed from his usual simple landscaping designs because it was much more diverse and exotic with more than 300 different plants.
“If I was to have a new life, I would want to be a gardener.”
Arne Jacobsen
Jacobsen had a specific spot in his garden where he would sit and work on his drawings. It was during this time that he finished his famous gesamtkunstwerk, the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen (Radisson Collection). This included the AJ Lamp series, upon which the AJ Garden Bollard is based.
The AJ Table Lamp in copper and stainless steel was used in several parts of the hotel, and the AJ Wall Lamp in stainless steel formed exquisite rows in the hotel lobby. In 2010, 50 years after the hotel’s inauguration in 1960, Louis Poulsen marked the anniversary by launching the AJ Outdoor Wall Lamp as the first outdoor lamp based on the original series. Now, in 2023, the AJ Garden Bollard will be introduced to complete the outdoor series.
The AJ Garden Bollard emits a pleasant downwardly directed light that is characteristic of the AJ Lamp series. It is made of durable die-cast aluminum with black structure paint on the outside and white paint on the inside of the shade for a soft and attractive reflection of light. The shape of the shade provides superior glare-free lighting that allows an optimal view of its surroundings. The lamp head hides the light source and is fixed one degree above horizontal to ensure that the design appears in balance.
There are three different ways of installing the AJ Garden Bollard, which makes it possible to place the fixture in almost any location. Spike mounting, for example, is a standard plug-and-play solution where the spike is pushed directly into the ground—it is a solution that most people can install themselves.
The AJ Garden Bollard is ideal for wayfinding lighting along pathways, around entrances, and in gardens as well as on rooftop terraces of private houses and apartment buildings, and in and around hotels and restaurants. The iconic AJ Garden Bollard in combination with the AJ Outdoor Wall Lamp makes it possible to enjoy Jacobsen’s design in a broad range of outdoor settings.
The AJ Garden Bollard will be available in stores from spring 2023.
About Arne Jacobsen
Arne Jacobsen was born and raised in Copenhagen. In 1927, he graduated as an architect from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. After graduating, he started his first job at the office of the City Architect of Copenhagen and founded his own office just two years later. Jacobsen is a world-famous Danish modernistic architect. His buildings are numerous in Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Among his most famous projects are the National Bank in Copenhagen (1971); SAS Royal Hotel & Terminal, Copenhagen (1960); and St. Catherine’s College in Oxford, UK (1963).
It is said that his fear of flying prohibited him from making a full impact on the American architectural environment. As an architect, Jacobsen had very strong decision-making skills, making it possible for him to influence not only the design of the building itself but also the majority of the details. Over the years, he ventured into various fields related to his work, such as light fixtures, furniture, cutlery, door handles, sanitary fixtures, fabrics, and wallpaper patterns. "The Egg" and "The Swan" are two famous chairs designed by Jacobsen. During his lifetime, he received several prestigious awards in Denmark and abroad. He served as a professor at the Royal Danish Academy for 11 years. Through that, he influenced an entire generation of Danish architects who each developed their own architectural language built upon the same rationalistic and minimalist approach toward architecture.
About Louis Poulsen
Established in 1874, the original house of light, Louis Poulsen creates iconic products that provide exceptional light. Honoring the Danish design tradition, Louis Poulsen’s designs are based on the principle that form follows function. Working in close collaboration with prominent designers like Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Vilhelm Lauritzen, Øivind Slaatto, Olafur Eliasson, Oki Sato and Anne Boysen, Louis Poulsen continues to build upon its legacy of creating luxury lighting with the help of passionate craftsmanship, quality materials, and innovative designs. Louis Poulsen has established itself as a leading global architectural and decorative lighting brand. The company has a global presence with showrooms in Copenhagen, Miami, Oslo, Tokyo, Singapore, and Dusseldorf.