The sexy term Anti-glare Luminaire, refers to lighting that has bulb well-covered so that it will not glare our eyes when looking @ it.

Louis Poulsen is a 70+ year old Danish company that had made a couple of famous lamps. We see this all over the magazines & films.

The collaboration of this company and Poul Henningsen started way back in 1924.

In this post, we'll talk a bit more on Poul Henningsen & 2 of this iconic lamps.

Poul Henningsen

Poul Henningsen was born in Copenhagen to the famous Danish actress Agnes Henningsen. He never graduated as an architect, but studied at The Technical School at Frederiksberg, Denmark from 1911-14, and then at Technical College in Copenhagen from 1914-17.

He started practicing traditional functionalistic architecture, but over the years his professional interests changed to focus mainly on lighting which is what he is most famous for. He also expanded his field of occupation into areas of writing, becoming a journalist and an author. For a short period at the beginning of WWII, he was the head architect of the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. But like many other creative people, he was forced to flee Denmark during the German occupation but soon became a vital part of the Danish colony of artists living in Sweden.

His lifelong collaboration with Louis Poulsen Lighting began in 1925 and lasted until his death. To this day, Louis Poulsen Lighting still benefits from his genius. Poul Henningsen was also the first editor of the company magazine “NYT”. The CEO of Louis Poulsen at the time, Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen, gave the magazine to PH as a gift because he had been terminated from the Danish newspaper he worked for (his opinions were too radical).

Poul Henningsen's pioneering work concerning the relations between light structures, shadows, glare, and color reproduction—compared to man’s need for light remains the fondation of the lighting theories still practiced by Louis Poulsen Lighting.

Click image to enlarge

The Artichoke

It blew us away when we saw this multiple Artichoke classic masterpieces on the ceiling of Crown Casino Melbourne. Sorry for the poor lighting taken as we took this from then external of the lobby. In the picture, there are countless pieces. Made up of 3 sizes, the mirrors on the walls further doubles the quantity & makes it impossible to count. This suspended installation stole the limelight of this lobby and people are staring up the ceiling in awe. This had totally convince ourselves that we are definitely getting this lamp either for our dining or our living. This multiplying effect also inspire us to place mirrors behind this lamps to further dramatize the structure of the lamp.

Key features [taken from Louis Poulsen]
- 72 “leaves” placed on 12 steel arches - Light source not visible from any angle - glare free

Concept
PH Artichoke is a glare-free luminair

e consisting of 72 leaves, which shield the light source, redirect and reflect the light onto the underlying leaves, resulting in distinct, unique lighting.

Finish
Copper or stainless steel, brushed and coated. White, wet painted.

Story behind the product
The PH Artichoke is considered to be a classical masterpiece made by Poul Henningsen more than 40 years ago. The structure is made of twelve steel arches. On this structure PH placed 72 copper “leaves” in twelve circular rows with six blades in each row. Because each row is staggered from the previous, all 72 leaves are able to “cover for each other”. This design allows viewing the fixture from any angle without being able to see the light source located in the center of the PH Artichoke. The original PH Artichokes were developed for a restaurant in Copenhagen called the Langelinie Pavilion, and they are still hanging there today.

The Snowball

This super retro era lamp is a total must have for all of you hippies. The round structure really reminds me of Verner Panton and Austin Powers movie, totally groovy. I fell in love with this while browsing their catalog. Like Artichoke, the shade of each layers were strategically space to shade the bulb so that its anti-glare. while each plate will then bounce light off each other generally pointing the light downwards.

Key features
- 8 shades mounted on 3 legs - Top of shades is glossy - creating sparkling light - Underside are matte - avoiding reflections - Glare free and even illumination

Concept
PH Snowball is a glare-free luminaire. The geometry of the PH Snowball ensures that all the illuminated surfaces of the shades are hit by light rays at the same angle, creating optimum, even lighting performance.

Finish
White, wet painted.

Story behind the product
The PH Snowball is considered a smaller version of the PH Louvre made for the Adventist Church in Skodsborg, Denmark. But unlike the PH Louvre, the number of shades is reduced to just eight mounted on three legs - and the diameter of the fixture is also reduced due to the fact that it was intended for lower ceiling spaces. This fixture was first launched together with the PH 5 and the PH Artichoke but it did not get the same attention as the other two pendants. However, as a result of the PH Snowball being re-drawn and re-introduced in 1983 this fixture has come alive again. Today it is made with white shades glossed on the top and matted on the underside. The top of the shades are glossy in order to create sparkling light. The undersides of the shades are matte to avoid reflections of the light source.

Both lamps are installed! Click here to view

For all of you design junkies, Louis Poulsen has a free iPhone App for this lighting on the link below.

Louis Poulsen App

Screen shots