Poul Henningsen, “PH 8/6” Ceiling Light

TF Chan, Louis Poulsen: First House of Light, London, 2024, pp. 33 (for a sketch of the present model)

Early 1926, shortly after Poul Henningsen finalized the design of the three-shade PH lamp, Louis Poulsen received an order to supply lighting for a big car show in an exhibition hall in Copenhagen. The large PH 8/6 and PH 6/6 ceiling lights were used for this purpose and garnered a lot of attention from the press and the public, prompting Poulsen and Henningsen to expand the PH family. Incredibly malleable and flexible, both in terms of their design as well as their function, new versions and variants were quickly designed and put into production, including the 8/8 and 6/3 ceiling lights on offer here. The lamps were subsequently made in different sizes and with either white, silver-plated or gold-plated shade undersides with different lighting properties accordingly.