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Poul Henningsen was an originator when thinking about lights in the home and their relationship to interior design (heminredning). His education concerned the style and design of buildings, but his legacy involved mobile lights. Many of his theories are the basis of the current marketplace.

For insight into his unique perspective about electrical lighting (belysning), a review of his early years is helpful. Henningsen was born in 1894 and grew up in a modest but happy home lit not by electrical lighting, but rather by the soft glow of gas lighting. That of course was the norm for small town life at the turn of the century.

As an architect, he toured numerous buildings in which electric lights had already been installed. He found the design and functionality of the lighting fixtures seriously lacking. He was unimpressed with the quality of lighting the systems provided which made the surroundings unpleasant to live and work in. He found the light itself to be ugly, harsh, and glaring. He knew that changes had to be made.

As a result of that, he experimented with creating new lighting fixtures to obtain softer atmospheric lighting to satisfy his lighting nostalgia. In 1924, he designed his first multi-shade lamp, the prototype of what later became known as the PH-lamp. He debuted some of his designs at the 1925 Paris Exposition of Decorative Arts and won first prize in the category of modern lighting. The ph5 lampa lamp model became very popular when it went into commercial production shortly thereafter.

Using the cleverly positioned lampshades, the ph5 lampa pendant lamp delivered filtered light. To obtain optimal light distribution and minimal glare, Henningsen performed extensive experiments on the lampshades. The result is a lampshade that distributes the light, and with colors on the inside of the lampshade to help soften the whiteness of that light. The end product minimizes the harsh abrupt contrast between light and dark seen at the outer edges of ordinary lighting.

ph5 lampa lamps can still be purchased today. This lamp has been scaled ideally for home use. This lamp's beauty and simple elegance of it's design can be seen by everyone. This lamp is made up of a series of three graduated reflector shades that serve to both soften and direct light in a uniform and symmetrical fashion. The way this ph5 lampa lampshade covers the light bulbs and directs the light downward, providing soft illumination for a nice ambiance of relaxing and comfort, is the reason that most people love this lampshade.