Louis Poulsen, Small Artichoke Chandelier by Poul Henningsen

The PH Artichoke lamp was born out of a lighting commission Poul Henningsen (1894–1967) received from Danish architects Eva and Nils Koppel to outfit the newly rebuilt Langelinie Pavilion, a Copenhagen restaurant that was bombed during World War II by the Germans with support from Danish collaborators. The original space — situated on the Copenhagen waterfront — dated back to 1902 and was a beloved spot for socializing in the city. The new, modernist 11-story pavilion was completed by the Koppels in 1958.

The objective for Henningsen, a Danish architect, designer and author, was to create a light that was beautiful, whether it was on or off. To do so, he returned to a piece he had tinkered with three decades earlier: the PH Septima, a pendant fixture with seven light shades. He updated his old design for the Koppels by paying homage to the humble, edible globe artichoke. 

Henningsen devised 72 copper “leaves” that he staggered in rows to completely hide the light bulb inside and prevent any harsh glare from materializing. Each of the 12 rows would have six leaves.

The genius of the Artichoke lamp lay in Henningsen’s choice to marry design with material. He was drawn to the gas lamps that illuminated his Danish hometown as a child and yearned to re-create the warmth that we attribute to gas lighting. The Artichoke lamp’s decorative arrangement of bent sheet copper emits a similarly radiant hue when lit from within, lending a healthy glow to the guests in the room. It took Henningsen only three months to finish the design upon receiving the commission.

The initial version of the Artichoke lamp was manufactured by Danish lighting company Louis Poulsen, with which Henningsen began working in 1925. When the fixture was ultimately hung in the Langelinie Pavilion, it was so heavy that it required suspension from steel aircraft cables.

The widely popular Artichoke lamp embodies Henningsen’s core beliefs about lighting. “This lamp is constructed with the most difficult and noble task in mind: lighting in the home,” he said. “The aim is to beautify the home and those who live there.”

This mantra rang true throughout Henningsen’s career, as it also helped define other signature pieces of his, such as the PH5 pendant lamp, PH table lamp and more. Henningsen’s original PH lamp design won first prize for modern lighting at the International Exposition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925.

Louis Poulsen continues to produce Henningsen’s floor lamps, sconces and more, and the Artichoke lamp is still available in its original copper as well as other assorted materials.

Louis Poulsen is world-renowned as an innovator in modern Danish lighting, but this wasn’t the goal from the start. Founded in 1874 by Ludvig R. Poulsen as a wine importer, the business went through several incarnations before its first pendant lights came to fruition. Through its designs, the company helped establish the foundations of good lighting — function, comfort and ambience — that are now standard in modern furniture design.

In 1924, Danish architect Poul Henningsen partnered with Louis Poulsen & Co., then an electrical supply company, to create what’s now known as the Paris lamp. This design, which incorporated three layers of curved metal disks, created ambience with its indirect light instead of glare. Shown at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris — the exhibition that brought Art Deco design to worldwide attention — the Paris lamp was awarded a gold medal. This led to Poulsen and Henningsen working together on several lighting pieces, including the popular PH pendant light with its concentric shades for the Forum Building in Copenhagen. These high-profile projects helped make Louis Poulsen a go-to purveyor of innovative lighting design.

One of the company’s most well-known lamps is Henningsen’s PH Artichoke lamp (1958), with its 72 copper leaves artfully placed to conceal the light bulb, prevent glare and promote a warm, alluring glow in any room. Another is the steel and die-cast zinc AJ lamp (1960), which Arne Jacobsen designed with an adjustable angled shade for his commission for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. The company has also worked with notables such as Verner Panton and Alfred Homann as well as, more recently, Louise Campbell and Oki Sato.

In 2010, the company was awarded the American Institute of Architects’ Honors in Collaborative Achievement Award; it was the first lighting manufacturer to receive this honor. In 2018, the company was acquired by an investment subsidiary of Investindustrial VI L.P. Still headquartered in Denmark, the brand continues to produce its high-end lighting for both indoor and outdoor use, manufacturing both classic icons as well as new designs. “We design to shape light,” states Louis Poulsen. In doing so, they have also shaped culture.

Find a range of new and vintage Louis Poulsen floor lamps, table lamps and other lighting and furniture on 1stDibs.