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Louis Poulsen California Pendant Lamp
Materials: Light gray painted big aluminium disc lampshade, painted white inside. Round white plastic grid diffuser. Some metal parts. 3 white painted Bakelite E27 sockets.
Cord: 100 cm / 39.37”
Height: 15 cm / 5.90”
Width: ∅ 57 cm / 22.44”
Electricity: 3 bulbs E27, 3 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.
Period: 1960s, 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.
Designer: Vilhelm Wohlert & Jørgen Bo in 1967.
Manufacturer: Louis Poulsen & Co A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Other versions: The Louis Poulsen California pendant lamp exists in all probability in several colours.
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.
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 associated with the name of the Louisiana pendant lamp produced by Louis Poulsen.
For Louis Poulsen, Wohlert designed several important lighting models, 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 founded a business in Copenhagen. Originally a trading company, the firm gradually shifted towards electrical supplies and lighting as electricity became more widely used. In 1896 Ludvig’s nephew Louis Poulsen joined the company, and after Ludvig’s death in 1906 Louis continued the business. In 1914Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen became a partner, and the company name changed to Louis Poulsen & Co.
A decisive turning point came in 1924, when Poul Henningsen began his long collaboration with the company. His scientific approach to glare-free lighting and reflective multi-shade systems became central to the identity of Louis Poulsen and strongly influenced modern lighting design. Since then, the company has continued to combine functional light, architectural clarity and carefully considered form, following the idea that a lamp should not merely be an object, but a tool to shape light.
Over the decades, Louis Poulsen has produced both iconic domestic lighting and large-scale architectural lighting for public and professional spaces. The company remains one of the best-known names in Danish lighting design, with a strong emphasis on the quality, direction and atmosphere of light.
Designers
The designer most closely associated with Louis Poulsen is Poul Henningsen (PH). Other major names linked to the company include Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Vilhelm Lauritzen and Vilhelm Wohlert.
Over time, Louis Poulsen also collaborated with a wide range of designers, architects and studios, including Alfred Homann, Andreas Hansen, Eila & John Meiling, Henning Klok, Axel Wedel Madsen, Jørgen Bo, Ole Valdemar Kjær, Jens Møller-Jensen and Bent Gantzel-Boysen.
Among later and more recent collaborations are Louise Campbell, Øivind Slaatto, Christian Flindt, Clara von Zweigbergk, nendo (Oki Sato), Olafur Eliasson, GamFratesi, Anne Boysen, Peter Bysted, Anu Moser, Shoichi Uchiyama, Gabriel Tan and Finn Juhl.
Many thanks to Frank from nullviernull raum+kommunikation for the pictures. You can find his shop over here on Pamono.
Louis Poulsen California Pendant Lamp – Company Labels
