Arne Jacobsen Royal Pendant Lamp

Materials: White lacquered half round metal grid (aluminium) lampshade. Painted white on the inside. Metal (iron) parts. 4 porcelain E27 sockets.

Cord Length: 80 cm / 31.49”

Height: 22,5 cm / 8.85”

Width: ∅ 50 cm / 19.68”

Electricity: 4 bulbs E27, 4 x 100 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Not any type of light bulb can be used, it has to be a normal bulb.

Period: 1950s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) 

Manufacturer: Louis Poulsen & Co A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Other versions: This Arne Jacobsen Royal pendant lamp exists in several colours and two sizes. The smaller one is ∅ 37 x 18 cm / ∅ 14.56 x 7.08”. It was a redesign for in-house use and made to be suspended high up. The light is therefore diffused through an acrylic opal base plate. It uses 1 E27 light bulb. The large version was designed to be hung at low height.

This Arne Jacobsen pendant lamp is named AJ Royal 500.

Arne Jacobsen

Arne Emil Jacobsen was a Danish designer and architect. He was born in Copenhagen on 11 February 1902. Jacobsen was admitted to the Architecture School at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) where from 1924 to 1927 he studied under Kay Fisker and Kaj Gottlob, both leading architects and designers.

Still a student, in 1925 he won a silver medal for a chair design in the Paris Art Deco fair, the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts). After completing architecture school, he first worked at architect Poul Holsøe‘s architectural practice. 

Arne Jacobsen designed many objects during his life, among which several famous lamps for Louis Poulsen & CO A/S. The AJ table and floor lamp from 1957 is one of those lights and is still in production. Jacobsen also designed lights for Aarhus, another Danish company.

He also designed lighting for hotels and public places. This pendant lamp, the AJ Royal, was designed for the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Jacobsen designed the entire hotel. Including the stainless-steel cutlery used in the restaurant and his famous Swan and Egg chairs.

When Arne Jacobsen died unexpectedly 24 March 1971, he had a number of large projects under way, he was 69.

Louis Poulsen

Louis Poulsen & CO A/S is a Danish lighting manufacturer that was founded in 1874 by Ludvig R. Poulsen as a wine importing business. 4 years later the firm closed down. However, in 1892 Ludvig Poulsen opened his second business, this time selling tools and electrical supplies.

Two years later in 1896 his nephew Louis Poulsen started to work for the company. After the dead of Ludvig in 1906, Louis takes over the business.
In 1911 Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen becomes a partner in the firm and the name changes in Louis Poulsen & Co A/S. Six years later Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen becomes the sole owner of the company.

The best known designers that worked for Louis Poulsen are Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Vilhelm Lauritzen, Shoichi Uchiyama and many others.