Although founded in 1874, Louis Poulsen's first foray into lighting design wouldn't come until 1924. That was the year Louis Poulsen--the founder's nephew--having given the company his name, began working with soon-to-be legendary lighting designer Poul Henningsen. They sought to develop an entry for an international competition for decorative art, resulting in what is known as the Paris Lamp.
The Paris Lamp, upon winning the competition, revolutionized the lighting world. Using Scandenavian design principles of minimalism and form derived from function, Henningsen's three-shaded design shielded the bulb from the observer's eyes, while refracting the light in such a way as to spread it generously in a space.
Thereafter, Louis Poulson received a contract to equip the new Forum building in Copenhagen with a refined version of the Paris Lamp, now called PH5. From there, the company expanded its offerings to include an entire catalogue of luminaires and, eventually, focused its attention entirely on lighting.
Today, from its headquarters in Copenhagen, Louis Poulsen remains one of the most highly-regarded lighting brands on Earth. Its catalogue boasts lights from eminent lighting designers such as Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Øivind Slaatto, Alfred Homann, Oki Sato, and Louise Campbell. They have brought a Danish Modern flavour to almost a century of evolving lighting style, and, with their warm and simple yet dynamic sensibility, we can expect that to continue for a long time to come.
With AJ 50, Louis Poulsen expands Arne Jacobsen's iconic 1960's AJ series into outdoor wall lights. Originally designed for interior applications at the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, the AJ series's clean lines and evocative angles quickly earned it a celebrated place in design history.
With AJ 50 indoor/outdoor wall sconce, Louis Poulsen has not only adapted the technology to earn an IP65 rating, but made the light more ecologically-friendly through the use of integrated dimmable LED technology. Perfect for modern bathrooms as well as household, office, and hospitality exteriors, AJ 50 is a proud addition to this remarkable design legacy.
You can find Arne Jacobsen's entire AJ family of lights in the "Family & Similar" tab below for all your timelessly modern lighting plan needs.
The pendant is a glowing sphere built up of small diamond-shaped cells. Each cell is carefully designed to capture light and to shield the light source from the viewing angles above 45 degrees. Each cell glows. Below 45 degrees, the fields are open to direct light downwards. A small amount of light is also sent upwards to illuminate the ceiling.
The well-known functionalist architect, Vilhelm Lauritzen designed the VL 56 Pendant for Folkets Hus, in Vesterbro Copenhagen. Originally designed and built for the Danish Labour Movement, the building opened in 1956 and is now used as a concert hall, called Vega.
The building is a gesamtkunstwerk, meaning that Lauritzen designed everything in the building, from doorknobs, staircases and power outlets, to furniture and lamps. The VL 56 Pendant is one of the lamps Vilhelm Lauritzen designed for Vega, and to this day it hangs above the wood-panelled bar, adjacent to the concert hall. Both the chrome and brass variants were reintroduced in 2023, with slight adjustments and improvements.
Cirque is inspired by the spinning amusement park rides of Tivoli in Copenhagen. The fixture emits soft comfortable downlight. The matte, white-painted inside help assure even distribution of the light. The opening in the top of the fixture provides decorative illumination of the cable above and ensures that the fixture retains the full expression of its visual shape both when illuminated and when switched off.
Note that the finish option corresponds to the top-most colour portion of the light. So if you select the "Yellow" finish, you're choosing the colourway that has yellow at the top.
PH 3/2 pendant is one of the iconic fixtures recognized throughout the world. It is a small-scale pendant of gently sloped glass shades with a lustrous metal socket housing on top. The iconic design is based on the principle of a reflective three-shade system, which directs the majority of the light downwards. The shades are made of handblown, opal white, three-layer glass, which is glossy on top and sandblasted matte on the underside, giving a soft and uniform light distribution. The socket housing is available in three finishes of chrome, metalized black, and metalized brass. Part of a family including indoor and outdoor products.
The PH5 is modern interpretations of the classic PH 5. It is offered in many different new colors to fit into today’s environments. As a follow-up to his celebrated three-shade system, the fixture emits both downward and lateral light, thus illuminating itself. Similar to the PH 5 Classic, a warmer tone of light is created by the inside red cone and a small blue reflector. The shades are aluminum with matte white finish on the lower surfaces, giving a soft and uniform light distribution. Available in a wide variety of colors and materials. Copper and brass pendants are untreated and will patinate over time.
