Andreas Hansen

Andreas Hansen (born 1936) is a Danish designer who was educated at the Kunsthåndværkerskolen (School of Applied Arts and Crafts) in Denmark. He has worked with furniture, lighting and industrial design throughout his career.

Since 1963, Hansen has run his own design studio, focusing on the design of furniture, lamps and household appliances. His work was mainly produced for Danish manufacturers, including Le Klint, Fog & Mørup and Louis Poulsen.

Mandalay

Mandalay, the name used for one of Hansen’s lamp designs, refers to the former royal capital of Myanmar (Burma). The name is best known from the poem “Mandalay” by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1892 in the collection Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses.

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.