Today, to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of the designer Poul Henningsen on the 9th September 1894, Louis Poulsen have launched a new light for their current collection, the PH 3½-3 pendant, based on original designs by Henningsen from the late 20s and early 30s. The proportions and profile of the triple shades can be seen in the 4/3 lamp in glass of 1928 and the slimmer upper part in copper but with metal shades with a rolled edge in the 6/5 lamp of about 1929. Looking at an illustration from a catalogue of 1936, this version appears to combine the size (a diameter of 33 cm) of the 3½/3 but with the extended and more elegant upper part of the larger 4/3 and 4/4 lamps.

Photographs of these original versions along with reproductions of Henningsen’s working drawings and the fascinating analytical drawings that show how the light is dispersed by the multiple shades of the lamps can be found in Tænd! PH Lampens Historie, edited by Tina Jørstian and Poul Erik Munk Nielsen for Louis Poulsen and published by Gyldendal in 2007.

For the new 3½-3 the metal shades are produced in green, red, yellow or white and the stem is a semi-glossy brown and made of copper.