Filter and sort
- Professional Customer Service
- 100-day return policy
- Free delivery over €99
Do you need guidance?
Benny Frandsen
Born: 1941.\ Death: 2021.\ Known works: Ball lamp.\ Education: Engineer.
Benny Frandsen is a national treasure in Denmark. The designer, best known for his Ball lamp and his status as "The Grand Old Man" in the Danish lighting industry, celebrated 50 years with his company Frandsen in 2018, where he helmed a company that helped put Denmark on the world map of serious lighting countries.
When we lost Benny Frandsen in 2021, we lost a frontrunner who with honest, simple and beautiful designs managed to stay competitive and relevant for a lifetime in the competitive and ever-changing lighting industry. He was co-founder and chairman of the Dansk Belysningsforening, and he was known for his great commitment and friendly personality. Explore Benny Frandsen's designs below - and read more about his life at the bottom of the page.
:format(jpeg) "Benny Frandsen Designer")
The story of Benny Frandsen
Benny Frandsen's parents, Evald and Mary Frandsen, were among the Danes who moved to Troldhede to work at the Troldhede factory during the crisis of the 1930s - and Benny, the youngest of five children, undoubtedly inherited their industriousness and business acumen.
When Benny Frandsen was just 14 years old, he told us at his childhood home in Troldhede that his biggest dream was to become a business owner. It wasn't just a dream, but something he promised his mother - and 12 years later, the promise came true when he started his design adventure in Skanderborg with start-up capital from his wife Inge's teacher's salary in the basement of his home.
Frandsen had become an engineer - something he did mostly because his mother wanted him to get an education - and he had in the meantime turned his hand to designing some lamps for a local disco. He had tried to convince his boss at the time that he should be allowed to start lamp production, but Frandsen was never allowed.
So he had to start his own business, which he did in the family home. Frandsen began tentatively with various square shapes and created a series of lamps, which unfortunately never sold very well. The poor sales never discouraged the Danish designer, however, and instead of turning the key, he thought he would try his hand at the opposite of square lamps - round models.
Frandsen's Ball lamp - the first success
The new round lamp was called Ball and, as the name so beautifully suggests, it was a complete contrast to Frandsen's previous square designs. The wall light was round like a billiard ball and attached to the wall box with a magnet. This meant Ball was easy to rotate and point, so you could always send the focused light of the ball screen where it was needed.
The model was a hit and really kick-started Benny Frandsen's career as a designer and lighting man. Ball took Denmark by storm, and the simple, beautiful silhouette made the lamp easily recognizable and unique among other 1960s designs. Most Danes have had to deal with a Ball lamp in their lives - and its delightful design and universal appeal has kept the model in continuous production for over 50 years.
Today, the model is available in a multitude of variants - most recently the 50th anniversary model, to which Benny Frandsen said in 2018 that "The Ball lamp is ready for another 50 years." Ball is available today as a wall lamp, pendant, floor lamp, table lamp and spotlight.
A company with growing pains
The huge success of the Ball series meant that Frandsen's company could no longer be located in the basement of his private address - and so the then 31-year-old entrepreneur and designer was looking for lamp production-friendly square meters, which he found in 1972 close to home when he came across the new industrial district of Skanderborg Øst. Here, Frandsen was one of the first to have a business.
There is no doubt that Benny Frandsen was happy in Skanderborg. This is where his entire business adventure started, but it's also where he belonged. He was a member of the Tourist Association and the Initiative Committee - and he was also a great sponsor and supporter of the local handball team. In addition to all this, he was one of the initiators of the city's swimming pool and golf course.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the manufacturer of the round wall lights established itself as a serious player in the Danish lighting industry, and it all took place from the address in the industrial district of Skanderborg Øst. The range was expanded over the next twenty-five years until, in 1993, the illustrator from Troldhede received an offer he couldn't refuse - and Frandsen's company was acquired by the Frits Group. However, the founder continued as CEO.
Frandsen Lighting A/S, Frandsen Group
Frits Koncernen only owned Frandsen's company for three years before he bought it back in 1996 - and renamed it Frandsen Lighting A/S. The customer base slowly but surely changed from small retail stores to large shopping associations and sales grew. In connection with the acquisition of the Frits Group, the company had moved to Horsens, Denmark, in premises that were even better equipped for the growing success - and the small Ball lamps were also becoming famous abroad.
All this meant that Frandsen could reorganize his company - and under the wings of Frandsen Group came both Verpan, which produced and sold Verner Panton designs, and Frandsen Project, which supplied lamps to B2B (Business to Business) partners.
In 2009, Frandsen built new premises, and on Egeskovvej in Horsens, the Danish lighting company moved into a 6,000 square meter factory. At the same time, Frandsen built factories in China where over 5,000 employees produced the Danish designs. For the next ten years, the company celebrated record sales every year until 2020, when Bestseller founder Troels Holch Povlsen bought Frandsen and made it part of the investment company Nine United.
Benny Frandsen and Woud
Woud is an up-and-coming Danish design brand that since 2014 has delivered innovative, atypical, elegant and stylish furniture, lamps and home accessories products. The company was founded by Mia Koed and Torben Koed, who had a dream of breaking with the traditional and the conventional and creating a company where young, new design talents could give the stagnating range of classics in home magazines a boost.
According to the two, the needle of the interior design trend had stuck in a groove and new designs were needed - one Danish designer in particular was inevitable, and it turned out that the industry's "Grand Old Man" would become an invaluable part of the two young designers' business.
When Woud was launched in 2014, Mia and Torben Koed needed an expert to help them get started. Someone who knew the industry and someone who could help them navigate it - and that's exactly the kind of expert Mia Koed ran into at the trade show.
"Benny Frandsen was the definition of a good person," she says - "It was his embracing and positive way of being that taught me how important it is to cherish good collaboration," says the creative director, who today makes a virtue of working with young designers.
Benny Frandsen helped Woud select designs, he helped them with pricing and he helped them with production. Benny Frandsen even designed a lamp series for Woud, the Cono series.
Share your pictures with @lampemesteren
Inspire and let yourself be inspired, from one unique home to another. Tag your pictures with #yesLampemesteren and you might see your home here!
© 2025 Lampemesteren A/S