Vilhelm Wohlert

Vilhelm Wohlert was born on 27 May 1920 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied architecture from 1938 and graduated in 1944 from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole) in Copenhagen.

From 1946 until 1947, Wohlert worked in Stockholm, Sweden, where he was employed by Sven Ivar Lind, Sven Markelius and Håkon Ahlberg. In 1949 he founded his own architectural practice together with Jørgen Bo, under the name Bo og Wohlert (og = and).

The firm became internationally known for the design of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, developed from 1957 onwards. The museum played a central role in Danish post-war architecture and is also the origin of the name of the Louisiana pendant lamp produced by Louis Poulsen.

For Louis Poulsen, Wohlert designed several important lighting objects, including the Satellit pendant lamp in 1959, the Louisiana pendant lamp, the Magasin flush mount in 1974, and the Magnum lamp in 1995, the latter designed together with Eleni Birkner.

In addition to his architectural and design work, Wohlert was active as an educator. He was a professor at the University of California in Berkeley, USA, from 1951 until 1953, and later taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1968 until 1986. Vilhelm Wohlert passed away on 10 May 2007.

Jørgen Bo

Jørgen Bo, born on 8 April 1919, was a Danish architect and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He is best known for his long collaboration with Vilhelm Wohlert within the firm Bo og Wohlert, particularly for their work on the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk. Jørgen Bo passed away on 9 July 1999.

Louis Poulsen

Louis Poulsen is a Danish lighting manufacturer with roots going back to 1874, when Ludvig R. Poulsen started a business in Copenhagen. The company later shifted from general trading into tools, electrical supplies and, eventually, lighting. In 1896 his nephew Louis Poulsen joined the firm, and after Ludvig’s death in 1906 Louis continued the business. In 1911 Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen became a partner and the company name changed to Louis Poulsen & Co A/S; in 1917 Kaastrup-Olsen became the sole owner.

A key turning point came in the 1920s with the long collaboration with Poul Henningsen (PH). His work on glare-free lighting and shade systems became central to the company’s identity and strongly influenced modern lighting design. Since then, Louis Poulsen has continued to collaborate with architects and designers, producing both classic catalogue models and large-scale architectural lighting for public buildings.

Designers

The most famous designer associated with Louis Poulsen is Poul Henningsen (PH), followed by major Danish and international names such as Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Vilhelm Lauritzen and Vilhelm Wohlert.

In later years Louis Poulsen also worked with a wide range of designers and studios, including Alfred Homann, Louise Campbell, Øivind Slaatto, Andreas Hansen, Eila & John Meiling, Henning Klok, Axel Wedel Madsen, Jørgen Bo, Ole Valdemar Kjær, Christian Flindt, Clara von Zweigbergk, nendo (Oki Sato), Olafur Eliasson, Jens Møller-Jensen, GamFratesi, Bent Gantzel-Boysen, Anne Boysen and many others.