Throughout his life, Poul Henningsen sought to create exceptional glare-free light. The PH Snowball, designed in 1958, bears some resemblance to Henningsen's original Contrast lamp and the PH Louvre, with a series of 8 shades that form an elongated spherical silhouette. The PH Snowball was first exhibited in 1958 at the Danish Museum of Decorative Art (now known as Design Museum Denmark), as part of an exhibition called Glass, Light and Colour. Following this, the PH Snowball was put to one side, until it was reintroduced in 1983.
39H x 40D cm
Shades: Spun aluminium. Frame: Brass metallised, die cast zinc. Housing: Brass metallised, spun zinc.
Poul Henningsen was born in Copenhagen by the famous Danish writer Agnes Henningsen. He never graduated as an architect, but studied at The Technical School at Frederiksberg, Denmark from 1911-14, and then at Technical College in Copenhagen from 1914-17. He started practicing traditional functionalistic architecture, but over the years his professional interests changed to focus mainly on lighting which is what he is most famous for.
Inspiration
