PH Septima pendant lamp by the manufacturer Louis Poulsen

We have rediscovered a lost icon! The Louis Poulsen PH Septima, which was presented for the first time in 1928, is considered one of the most refined pendant lamps by Poul Henningsen. In the 1940s, however, the production of the highly appreciated Louis Poulsen PH Septima was stopped because there were not enough raw materials available. In 2020, Louis Poulsen ensures the return of Poul Henningsen’s sophisticated lamp with its glass crown of seven shades, including an improved suspension and reinforced glass for a longer durability and more stability.

Poul Henningsen was born in Copenhagen, the son of the famous Danish writer Agnes Henningsen. He studied at the Technical School in Frederiksberg from 1911 to 1914 and at the Technical College in Copenhagen from 1914 to 1917, but never graduated as an architect. At the beginning of his career, he worked on traditional, functionalist architecture. But over the years, his professional focus changed and he increasingly concentrated on lighting design, for which he is best known today. He also expanded the circle of his work to include writing as a journalist and author. For a short period at the beginning of the Second World War, Poul Henningsen worked as chief architect for the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. But like many other creative people of his time, he was forced to flee Denmark during the German occupation. In exile, he soon became an important member of the Danish artists’ colony in Sweden. Henningsen’s lifelong collaboration with Louis Poulsen began in 1924 and lasted until his death. Louis Poulsen still benefits from his ingenious spirit today. Poul Henningsen was also the first editor of the company magazine NYT. The then managing director of Louis Poulsen, Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen, gave Poul Henningsen the magazine as a gift after he had been dismissed from a Danish newspaper (the newspaper thought his views were too radical). Poul Henningsen’s groundbreaking work on the interplay of light structures, shadows, glare and colour rendering, as well as on man’s need for light, continues to shape the lighting theories behind Louis Poulsen’s products to this day.