Louis Poulsen Louisiana Pendant Lamp

Materials: Half round copper lampshade, painted white inside. White painted round metal (iron) grid diffuser. White painted Bakelite E27 socket.

Cord: 100 cm / 39.37”

Height: 22 cm / 8.66”

Width: ∅ 40 cm / 15.74”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 100 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.

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

Other versions: The Louis Poulsen Louisiana pendant lamp exists in several versions and colours. Made in iron & copper. Versions exists with a porcelain socket.

Vilhelm Wohlert

Vilhelm Wohlert was born 27 May 1920 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Wohlert became a student in 1938 and graduated in 1944 as an architect from the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole) in Copenhagen.

Vilhelm Wohlert was employed by Sven Ivar Lind, Sven Markelius and Hakon Ahlberg in Stockholm, Sweden from  1946 until 1947.  In 1949 he started his own design studio together with Jørgen Bo, named Bo og Wohlert (og = and). The company became especially known for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, built from 1957. That’s where this pendant lamp got its name from.

For Louis Poulsen he designed, among others: the Satellit pendant lamp in 1959, the California pendant lamp in 1967, the Magasin flush mount in 1974 and the Magnum lamp in 1995 together with Eleni Birkner.

Wohlert was also a professor at the University of California in Berkeley, USA from 1951 until 1953. And from 1968 until 1986 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Vilhelm Wohlert passed away 10 May 2007.

Jørgen Bo

Jørgen Bo, born 8 April 1919 was a Danish architect and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He passed away 9 July 1999.

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. Many other designers worked for the famous Danish company.