Poul Henningsen

The Danish Poul Hennigsen (1894-1967) was the most important lamp designer in the history of Scandinavian design. His pioneering activity in the field of lighting began in the late 10s, when the interest aroused in him by the diffusion of electricity in Danish cities convinced him to abandon his architectural studies to devote himself to the design of lighting fixtures, starting a long research that will culminate in 1926 with the putting into production of its first series of PH lamps by the Louis Poulsen company, which immediately became a bestseller throughout Europe, which still constitute the heart of the brand's production today. That of light designer will be an activity that will accompany him throughout his life, with over one hundred models of lamps designed in about fifty years of career, all inspired by the same basic concept: Henningsen loved working on diffusers of great engineering complexity, based on precise mathematical proportions, capable at the same time of avoiding spreading light in the environment in the most functional way and of revealing themselves to be aesthetically very satisfying. This commitment was accompanied by the second great passion of his life, that of journalism and politics, faced by rigorously progressive positions that forced him to live in exile in Sweden at the time of the Nazi occupation. Through the magazines he directed, Henningsen carried on a solid polemic against the artistic ambitions of contemporary Scandinavian design, which according to him distanced it from the possibility of being truly useful for the popular masses. During his career he also designed various furnishings, now re-proposed by the PH Furniture brand, among which the iconic Snake Chair stands out.