Poul Henningsen PH-2/2 Copper Pendant – Louis Poulsen

About the Item

Poul Henningsen PH 2/2 Pendant Lamp in Copper and Browned Brass, Patented, Denmark, 1930s An original and elegant PH 2/2 pendant lamp designed by Poul Henningsen, Denmark, dating from the 1930s, produced under Henningsen’s patented three-shade system. This early example features a refined combination of materials, with patinated copper shades paired with browned brass fittings, creating a warm and richly textured surface developed through natural aging. The layered shade construction provides soft, glare-free illumination, demonstrating Henningsen’s pioneering approach to functional lighting. The proportions and detailing are characteristic of early PH production, where material quality and craftsmanship were of the highest standard. Examples from this period, particularly in copper with original patina, are increasingly rare and highly sought after by collectors. Details • Designer: Poul Henningsen • Model: PH 2/2 pendant lamp • Origin: Denmark • Period: 1930s • Materials: Patinated copper shades, browned brass • Condition: Very good vintage condition, with authentic patina and age-related wear Approximate Dimensions • Diameter (largest shade): approx. 20 cm (7.9 in) • Height (excluding canopy): approx. 25–28 cm (9.8–11 in) A highly collectible and visually rich example of early Poul Henningsen lighting design, combining material depth, craftsmanship, and timeless Danish modern aesthetics.

Creator:
Poul Henningsen (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 7.88 in (20 cm)Diameter: 7.88 in (20 cm)
Power Source:
Hardwired
Voltage:
220-240v
Lampshade:
Included
Materials and Techniques:
Brass,Copper
Place of Origin:
Denmark
Period:
1930-1939
Date of Manufacture:
1930s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Egå, DK
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU10744249298612

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Poul Henningsen

The name Poul Henningsen is synonymous with the best and most innovative modern Scandinavian lamps and other lighting. The Danish designer created a signature vocabulary of fixtures with tiered and layered shades in sculptural arrangements that are at once naturalistic and geometric.

Henningsen grew up in a town on the outskirts of Copenhagen and studied architecture at the Technical University of Denmark. He would become a noted art critic, journalist and screenwriter, but his first love was lighting design.

Henningsen’s childhood home was illuminated by oil lamps. When his family switched to electrified lighting, he was alarmed and repelled by the harsh glare cast by an incandescent bulb, and in his late teens he began conducting quasi-scientific experiments to measure which materials and methods best diffused or reflected light to give it a warm brightness. His work came to the attention of the lighting-fixtures firm Louis Poulsen, which sponsored the development of a prototype lamp. The design won a gold medal at the 1925 Paris Expositions Internationales des Arts Decóratifs et Industriels Modernes — from which the term Art Deco derives. The lamp, whose three-part shade is said to be inspired by the arrangement of a dinner plate atop a soup bowl atop a teacup, became the basis for Henningsen’s most successful design, the PH 4/3 desk lamp.

All told, Henningsen would design some 100 lighting fixtures in his career. Some of his most notable creations are hanging lamps, which include the Septima (1929), a pendant composed of seven graduated frosted-glass layers; the Spiral (1942), made of a single ribbon of enameled aluminum; and the Artichoke lamp (1958), whose 70 glass or metal fins in a staggered and graduated arrangement on a central steel frame resemble those of its namesake. The last is likely Henningsen’s masterwork and an icon of mid-20th-century design. Like all Henningsen lighting designs, it is striking, sculptural and — thanks to his insistence on the primacy of the quality of the light cast — superbly functional.

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