A Century of Light

A century after Poul Henningsen worked out how to make light behave, Louis Poulsen marks the anniversary of PH System with a collection of heritage pieces in aged brass.

Explore the exhibition on show across Cult showrooms through October and recieve 15% off all Louis Poulsen products*.

In 1926, Poul Henningsen arrived at a principle rather than a product. Three shades, each positioned at an angle he had calculated rather than chosen, arranged so that every surface the light touched sent it somewhere useful and none of it reached the eye directly. He called it System PH.

One hundred years on, Louis Poulsen marks the anniversary with the PH Centenary Collection: a small group of heritage designs drawn from the archive and finished in lacquered aged brass with a fine hairline texture.

The glass is mouth-blown, in combinations of amber and white opal, sandblasted on the inner surface so that the light leaves each shade already softened. It reads as period and present at once - a palette of aged brass, dusty terracotta and opal white that would have been at home in 1933 and looks entirely current in a house built this year.

At the centre of the collection is the PH 1/1 Chandelier Centenary Edition, known originally as the Bombardement Chandelier and part of the Louis Poulsen catalogue from 1933 until the mid-sixties. Henningsen conceived it so it could be built in different sizes - each curved brass arm carrying its own PH 1/1 three-shade set, all of them returning to a central core - and it is offered again in three, six and nine arms.

The PH 1/1 is the smallest shade size in System PH, and the Centenary Collection is the first time it has been reintroduced.

Through October, Cult showrooms host A Century of Light - an exhibition tracing Henningsen's thinking from the first PH designs through to the lights still in production today. A timeline of Henningsen's designs, decade by decade, alongside the Centenary pieces shown lit and in full.

Visit the exhibition at Cult Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane or Perth and receive 15% off all Louis Poulsen purchases made in store*, until 31 October.

*15% off applies to Louis Poulsen purchases made in store at Cult Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth between 5 and 31 October 2026. Discount applies to retail pricing only. Not available in conjunction with any other offer. A 50% deposit is required on order placement. Standard delivery and installation charges apply.