Scandinavia Design

VL Studio – Louis Poulsen

Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940’s

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Louis Poulsen, Danish Design Lighting
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

The VL Studio lamp collection is the commercial version of a luminaire developed by architect designer Vilhelm Lauritzen when he designed Copenhagen's Radio House, Radiohuset, in the 1940s. The lamp were used in recording studios, with red and green bulbs, hence the name VL Studio.

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

A major work of Vilhelm Lauritzen, the Radiohuset was designed in a very innovative functionalist style and inaugurated in 1945. Like most buildings in Lauritzen, the Radiohuset was a "gesamtkunstwerk", a total work, where the architect designed not only the building, but also the lights and even the smallest details of the decoration. It is for this same project that Vilhelm Lauritzen designed the VL38, the VL45 and the VL Ring Crown.

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

The reissue of the VL Studio uses the original materials. The three-layer polished white opal blown glass diffuser emits an extremely comfortable diffused light. The body is in lightly brushed polished brass. A matt black version has been added for a more graphic and refined style.

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

The VL Studio collection is available in three different sizes that can be used as a floor lamp or as a table lamp, as needed, as well as a wall lamp. The smaller version, Ø15 cm, has the same diameter as the original VL Studio Wall lamp. The size of the intermediate version, Ø250, makes it an ideal table lamp, and the larger model, Ø320, is suitable for use as a table lamp and a floor lamp. 

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

VL Studio Floor / Table Lamp

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

VL Studio Ø15 cm – Brass

VL Studio Ø15 cm – Black

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

VL Studio Ø25 cm – Brass

VL Studio Ø25 cm – Black

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

VL Studio Ø32 cm – Brass

VL Studio Ø32 cm – Black

VL Studio Wall Lamp

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

VL Studio Ø15 cm – w/o cord – Brass

VL Studio Ø15 cm – w/o cord – Black

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

VL Studio Ø15 cm – with cord – Brass

VL Studio Ø15 cm – with cord – Black

VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's
VL Studio Louis Poulsen – Vilhelm Lauritzen, 1940's

Materials Three-layer opal blown glass, polished. Body in brushed brass. Brushed brass surface with fine grooves. Please note that the brass surface is untreated which means it will evolve over time and develop a patina.
Light Source E27 (Ø25 and 32cm) or 30W G9 (Ø15 cm)

Vilhelm Lauritzen

Vilhelm Lauritzen

Vilhelm Lauritzen (1894–1984) is one of the most significant architects in the history of Denmark; he was the trail-blazing figurehead of Danish functionalism. A number of his buildings – Nørrebro Theatre (1931–32), Daells Varehus department store (1928–35), Radiohuset (1936-41) and the first airport built in Kastrup (1937–39) – represented the concentrated essence of contemporary life. Other significant buildings to stem from Lauritzen’s drawing board include Folkets Hus (1953–56) better known today as the Vega concert venue, the Shellhuset (1950–51) building and the Danish embassy in Washington (1958–60). In particular the Radiohuset building and the earliest version of Kastrup Airport – both listed today – are considered peerless monuments to modernism in the European genre of construction.

Throughout his life, Vilhelm Lauritzen adhered to the principle that architecture is applied art – with equal emphasis on both ‘art’ and ‘applied’. “No life without aesthetics” was another one of Vilhelm Lauritzen’s firmly held beliefs.

Vilhelm Lauritzen mastered both daylight and artificial lighting. He consistently involved daylight in his architectural projects by including large south- and west-facing windows that neatly mixed warm sunlight with the cooler sky light flowing in through windows facing north and east. It was an approach that shifted focus from the limited wall surfaces in the room itself. People, furnishings and fittings are highlighted and shaded in the sculptural light.

Lauritzen’s fixtures light up with the same idea. They combine strongly directed light that produces sharp shadows with a gentler, more diffuse illumination that softens and shades the rooms.

The first light fitting Vilhelm Lauritzen designed was created in 1926–29 for Fritzsches Glashandel and named the Universal pendant. As a true functionalist, Vilhlem Lauritzen dedicated his entire life to continuing to develop and improve his light fixtures.

Vilhelm Lauritzen’s first fixtures, which he designed for Radiohuset, started to appear in Louis Poulsen catalogues in the middle of the 1940s.

In the 1950s – in step with the progress on his major construction assignments – the Lauritzen range expanded to comprise a broad, varied selection of fittings.