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Standing 21 cm tall, this vintage pop-art style desk/table/bedside lamp has a strong and glossy whit..
£95.00
Produced in the 1970s by Abo Randers of Denmark and designed by P Bosque, these Stat desk or tabl..
£190.00
In the mid-1970s Danish lighting company Fog & Mørup collaborated with Arabia of Finland to prod..
£575.00
Askepot, which translates into English as Cinderella, is an unusual industrial-style Jo Hammerborg p..
£175.00
A collaboration between Denmark's Holmegaard glassworks and lighting producer Fog & Mørup, the B..
£170.00
Offered as a pair (the price listed is for both lamps together), these original vintage Mag pop a..
£79.00
Designed in 1967 with a diameter of 22.5cm and height of 31.5cm, the Central is a member of Jo Hamme..
£175.00
With its futuristic rocket-shaped outline, Jo Hammerborg's Corona is a space-age classic and beautif..
£225.00
Designed by Fog & Mørup's head of design Jo Hammerborg and produced by F&M in the late 1960s..
£250.00
Designed by Danish architect-designer Bent Karlby and produced by Lyfa in the 1950s, this P528 midce..
£295.00
This rare and spectacular Danish art light in rich orange and battleship grey lacquered metal is ent..
£595.00
Designed by Danish architect-designer Bent Karlby and produced by Lyfa in the 1960s, the Trenta is a..
£350.00
This classic 1970s modernist wall lamp was produced in Denmark by Fog & Mørup and designed by th..
£99.00
Dating to the late 1950s/early 60s, the Eiffel (aka the Eifel) was one of Jo Hammerborg's earliest d..
£225.00
This classic space-age glossy red enamelled steel pendant light was made by Danish lighting company ..
£95.00
Designed by Danish architect Louis Weisdorf and issued by Lyfa in 1970, the Facet-Pop is constructed..
£325.00
Danish architect Sophus Frandsen created the Fibonacci, his timeless classic for Fog & Mørup, in..
£1,200.00
Offered as a spare part, this is the main section of an original 1960s production of Verner Panton's..
£69.00
This multilayered pendant light fixture is an original Danish Form-Light and retains its origin..
£225.00
As we wrote back in 2011 in a blog post which you can read here, Fog & Mørup's Golden Line..
£420.00
The Hydra is a typically understated Jo Hammerborg design for Fog & Mørup, and the lamp was mark..
£145.00
Designed by architect Bent Karlby and produced by Lyfa in the late 1960s, the Kvadrille is a Danish ..
£550.00
Jo Hammerborg's Lento table/desk lamp series was launched by Fog & Mørup in the mid-1960s in thr..
£399.00
Offered for sale individually, these elegant brass candlesticks were designed in 1960 by Danish a..
£45.00
A classic early (pre-1963) Jo Hammerborg design in his much-imitated signature copper-and-black comb..
£250.00
This high-quality 1950s pendant lighting fixture was produced by Danish lighting company Lyfa and is..
£195.00
Hans Due's ufo-style lamp series Optima was launched by Fog & Mørup in 1972 and consisted of sev..
£425.00
Hans Due's ufo-like Optima lamp series was launched by Fog & Mørup in October 1972 in white, wit..
£110.00
The Radius is a striking multi-layered pendant Danish art light designed by Erik Balslev for Fog &am..
£350.00
The first five years of Jo Hammerborg's 23-year reign as head of design at Fog & Mørup were the ..
£425.00
One of Jo Hammerborg's first wave of lighting designs for Fog & Mørup, the Alfa wall light and i..
£399.00
In strong, glossy laquered metal with a diameter of 20cm and a height of 19cm, Jo Hammerborg's Poker..
£125.00
The Regent is an elegant table lamp designed by Jo Hammerborg in the mid-1960s and produced by top D..
£170.00
The Saturn was one of Jo Hammerborg's first designs when he took over as director of design at Fog &..
£450.00
Created by Fog & Mørup's head of design Jo Hammerborg at the start of the 1960s, the Saturn's un..
£375.00
Designed by Jo Hammerborg and put into production by Fog & Mørup in the mid 1970s, the uncomprom..
£105.00
Designed in 1967 by Claus Bonderup and Torsten Thorup and put into production by Fog & Mørup whi..
£250.00
The Sera pendant light first appears in the record in 1968 and with its diameter of 38cm and height ..
£399.00
Tunika was one of Jo Hammerborg's earliest lamp designs, first appearing in a magazine advert in 196..
£225.00
Jo Hammerborg's Vega pendant lamp, created for Fog & Mørup in 1968, evidences more clearly than ..
£750.00
Lighting is an essential element of midcentury modern design, playing a key role in the aesthetics and functionality of modernist interiors. In Denmark, the birthplace of midcentury modern, lighting design has been treated as an integral part of architecture ever since Danish modern design principles first emerged in the mid-20th century, and at the peak of the midcentury era architectural project briefs would invariably include a complete specification for lighting. This is the reason so many Danish architects, including Andreas Hansen, Bent Karlby, Jørn Utzon and Louis Weisdorf, were actively invoved in lamp design in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
During this era the production quality of household fittings like lights and lamps was extremely high, especially in the affluent Scandinavian nations, and particularly at the luxury end of the market occupied by modern design-driven companies like Fog & Mørup, Lyfa, Louis Poulsen and Nordisk Solar Compagni. No expense was spared by these companies in the development and production of their light fittings, which were designed and built to last a lifetime.
Inevitably this approach meant the lights were often expensive, sometimes costing the equivalent of a week's average wage at the time. But their high quality means that many of them are still in excellent condition today, half a century or more after they were produced, while their timeless modernist style remains fresh and relevant to both retro modern and contemporary modern homes.
The role of lighting in midcentury modern interior design is to help define different activity zones and to create appropriate lighting and atmosphere for each area. These functions originate in the open-plan architecture of midcentury modern interiors, but are also appropriate to non-open-plan layouts. In the Danish midcentury lighting style, instead of using just one or two centrally-positioned light fittings to illuminate an entire room, multiple lights are deployed across different areas to provide specific activity-appropriate illumination.
For example, a localised pool of light beside an armchair or over a coffee table will create a cosy area for reading or relaxing, while a pendant lamp hung just above head height over a dining table can provide a well-lit but glare-free and inviting environment for family meals and entertaining dinner guests. Indeed, one of the defining characteristics of the midcentury modern lighting style is that pendant lamps are often hung low or even very low when they're being used to provide localised ambient light in the Danish hygge mode. Pairs and multiples are also a common feature.
Check out our gallery of original Danish midcentury modern lighting styles below for ideas and inspiration.