You’d be hard-pressed to find a designer or design enthusiast who hasn’t heard of Louis Poulsen – and with good reason! There are many explanations for their notoriety, including: imagination, experimentation and leadership.
In 1924 Poul Henningsen created his wildly influential Paris Lamp for Louis Poulsen, and the origin of how we still design to shape light can be directly traced back to his views on the dualities of design and illumination. Not bad for a 143-year-old design house!
It all began in 1874 with the eponymous Louis Poulsen, a Danish lighting manufacturer born out of the Scandinavian design tradition where form follows function. The function and design of their products have always been tailored to reflect and support the rhythm of natural light. Every detail in the design has a purpose. Every design starts and ends with light.
Since its inception, Louis Poulsen has cultivated exceptional feats in lighting design from some of the world’s greatest designer thinkers including: Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Øivind Slaatto, Alfred Homann, Oki Sato and Louise Campbell. Having established themselves as one of the key global suppliers of architectural and decorative lighting, Louis Poulsen and their enviable club of leading designers, continue to defy traditional product categories and typologies to serve and span the professional and private lighting markets for both indoor and outdoor applications.
Though the brand’s iconic classics remain as key staples in the design community, Louis Poulsen continues to invest heavily in new design collaborations and a more contemporary creative identity. This can be seen in product collaborations with GamFratesi for Yuh, Nendo for NJP and Mads Odgård for Above.
Maintaining their approach to lighting with a very strict and uncompromising product philosophy based on function, comfort and ambience, Louis Poulsen continues to revolutionize while staying true to their origins and legacy.
The functional aspect of any fixture for instance – the quality of the light itself – has to be resolved before addressing the shape and beauty of the lamp’s form. This philosophy continues to this day guiding the product design with a focus on human wellbeing and perception of artificial light to create unique lighting environments.
As a result, Louis Poulsen lighting is stylistically both simple and refined, and blends seamlessly into most interior designs, modern and classic alike – available in Australia through Cult.
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
In the first instalment of our three-part series exploring what it means to sit your best, we pose the question to Gray Puksand’s Dale O’Brien, who discusses the importance of ease and majority rule when it comes to sitting and reveals why specifying a task chair is not unlike choosing a Volvo.
In the second instalment of our performance seating three-parter, we turn to DKO’s Michael Drescher and Jacob Olsen to peek behind Sayl’s confident architectural form and explore the ideas of inclusivity, adaptability and freedom to move as hallmarks of what sitting your best actually means.
In this SpeakingOut! Interview, Peter Titmuss from BVN explores the complexities of adaptive reuse through the transformation of Sirius, unpacking how legacy, sustainability and contemporary living can coexist within one of Sydney’s most debated residential buildings.
Arranged with the assistance of Cult, Marie Kristine Schmidt joins Timothy Alouani-Roby at The Commons in Sydney.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
From sculptural basins and wellness-led bathrooms to kitchens and professional-grade appliances, these Milan Design Week releases reframed the home’s most functional spaces as places of ritual and care.
Specification now centres on systems that drive performance, compliance, and lasting impact—not just materials.
It’s bold and very blue and stands out from the crowd. Veneziano Coffee Roasters is making its presence felt, one expertly barista-made short black at a time!
In the second instalment of our performance seating three-parter, we turn to DKO’s Michael Drescher and Jacob Olsen to peek behind Sayl’s confident architectural form and explore the ideas of inclusivity, adaptability and freedom to move as hallmarks of what sitting your best actually means.