“Why the hell have the blind who call themselves lighting technicians never actually looked at the colors of daylight – when that is really what gives light and life true richness?” - Poul Henningsen, 1958.
Poul Henningsen was a pioneer of lighting design. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of the shaping of light, and in 1958, as a follow-up to his three-shade system from 1926, he designed the PH 5 pendant. Rooted in a meticulous analysis of the reflective qualities of light, Poul Henningsen’s PH 5 light is recognized as a Danish design classic and is notable for its innovative glare-free shape and uniform illumination. In the spirit of Poul Henningsen, Louis Poulsen now launches PH 5 Mini, a resize of the classic pendant, to cater to contemporary and creative living.
Henningsen designed the PH 5 in response to the continuous changes to the shape and size of incandescent bulbs. Regardless of how the light is installed and no matter what light source is used, the PH 5 is and remains completely glare-free.
Henningsen wanted to improve the color reproduction of the light source in the PH 5. Small red and blue shades were inserted to supplement the color in the part of the spectrum where the eye is least sensitive – the red and blue areas – thereby subduing the light in the middle yellow-green region where the eye is most sensitive. The new PH 5 Mini is introduced in an innovative new color palette, developed in collaboration with color expert Louise Sass and plays with colors that start with the darkest tone at the top and soften shade by shade.
The pendant was named PH 5 because of the 50-centimeter diameter of its top shade. Louis Poulsen now launches a mini version with a top shade diameter of 30 centimeters (12”). The Mini will be available in the Classic color version of PH 5, a new contemporary white, and an additional six color combinations: Hues of Orange, Rose, Red, Green, Blue and Grey.
The PH 5 Mini will be available beginning in October 2017.
About Louis Poulsen
Louis Poulsen is a Danish lighting manufacturer, founded in 1874. Through close cooperation with designers and architects like Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Vilhelm Lauritzen, Øivind Slaatto, nendo (Oki Sato), Shoichi Uchiyama, Louise Campbell and Mads Odgård, Louis Poulsen has established itself as one of the key suppliers of architectural lighting in the world market. The company offers a range of lighting targeting both the commercial and domestic lighting markets. There is a story behind every Louis Poulsen product. These are products whose designers focus on light itself and the idea behind the product as well as on the refinement of an architect’s, light specialist’s or furnishing designer’s concepts and visions about light – all in harmony with Louis Poulsen’s own lighting philosophy: design to shape light.
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Press release, September 2017