PH LAMPS
An artist with light
The luminance transition from screen to screen also appears harmonious. The size of the screens and their position were determined by the need to reduce glare, light positioning and light distribution requirements.
From the beginning, it was obvious that the concept was highly flexible. Not only were luminaires available in many different sizes, but also with different underside finishes - either a white painted surface, silver plated or gold plated surface.
These different undersides were to achieve different lighting options.
:format(jpeg) "PH 3/2 and 2/1 table lamps in brass from Louis Poulsen")
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Poul Henningsen
Poul Henningsen imagined that visitors to a restaurant would want the light to be warm and cozy, which is why they would use a gold-plated surface, as opposed to a hospital or dentist's office, where they would use the white painted surface.
The first luminaires were all made with metal shades, but Poul Henningsen also wanted to produce a variant of the luminaire that would show a light distribution arc with less downward light. The result was screens made of opal glass with a sandblasted underside.\ The glass screens allowed 12% of the light to penetrate and contribute to the overall light in the room, while most of the light was still reflected outwards and downwards from the matte underside of the screens.
The same principles that governed the matte metal screens also governed this new form of screen material.
Read more about Poul Henningsen here and see his many lamps
PH lamps - an immortal classic
This combination was good when the luminaire was hung high, but when the pendants were hung low, a combination with a large top shade, then a smaller middle and bottom shade was more appropriate.
This is how PH 2/1 and 3/2 were born. The PH 3 shade system started as a pendant solution, but soon the luminaire was further developed to include table, floor, wall and some larger pendant versions.
As a result of using different sizes, materials, surfaces, colors and light sources, thousands of variants have emerged over the years.
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PH luminaires
PH luminaires were designed as a rational lighting system where the size of the shades, its materials and surfaces could be combined based on the design.
Each top screen size has a corresponding set of middle and bottom screens, so the proportions between the screens were roughly 3:2:1. From the very beginning, one of the base models was the PH 5/5.
The first digit indicated the diameter of the top screen, and the digit after the slash indicated that the middle and bottom screens were born for this particular type of top screen.
This means that the 5/5 had a top screen with a diameter of 50cm, a middle screen of 31cm and a bottom screen of 16.5cm.
The 3-screen luminaires
Prior to the production of the 3-shade luminaires, Poul Henningsen and Louis Poulsen Lighting had worked together to design the luminaires for the Danish Pavilion at the World Expo in Paris in 1925.
When Poul Henningsen designed the luminaires for the World Expo, he had already toyed with the idea that the logarithmic spiral might be a suitable basis for a new shade design.
The combination of diffuse reflection and a logarithmic curving shade gave Poul Henningsen the ability to control the luminaire's glare and shadowing, as each shade equally reduces the amount of light emitted due to their distance from the light source.
:format(jpeg) "PH pendant light from Louis Poulsen")
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PH 3-2½ Puller
PH 3-2½ Bollard is a member of the PH 3-shade family, and the principle behind the PH 3-shade luminaires was laid in a few hectic months in the winter of 1925-1926 at an exhibition in Forum, Copenhagen.
Here is what Poul Henningsen said about his new luminaires in 1926: "The real innovation regarding PH luminaires is to produce light that is both glare-free and economical. It's easy enough to create a glare-free luminaire (indirect and highly shielded light) if you allow some light to be wasted, and it's relatively easy to create highly efficient luminaires if you ignore the fact that they are highly irritating to the eyes (strong reflection, etc.), but there is an art to creating light that is both economic and glare-free."