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News Archive
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22/01/2010 50 years of a design deityConsidered one of the most influential Danish architects and designers of the 20th century, Arne Jacobsen’s sense of purity and simplicity is readily recognizable in everything he designed in an impressive career spanning 50 years. The AJ series of lamps by Louis Poulsen is the perfect expression of his purist design mindset. Designed in 1960 for the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Copenhagen, formally known as the SAS Royal Hotel, the asymmetric conical shape of the fixture head clearly delineates the direction of the light. In other words, you can imagine the light before it’s even switched on, because the light design is already built into the lamp.A favorite among architects and design aficionados alike, the AJ family of lamps are the focus of Louis Poulsen’s launch in conjunction with the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, as the lamps and the hotel are celebrating their 50-year anniversary this year. Along with Jacobsen’s Swan and Egg chairs. Five new colors “In our search for color inspiration, we contacted Fritz Hansen who let us see some examples of their Arne Jacobsen color scales together with some old textile samples for the Swan and the Egg chair,” explains Claus Østergaard, International Marketing Manager at Louis Poulsen. “Jacobsen seemed not too keen on strong colors. He used textiles as curtains, which filtered the daylight into the room so the overall lighting became softer, calmer. We tested the colors we received from Fritz Hansen and chose the 5 most feasible ones, which could easily blend into any décor,” adds Østergaard. Pia Knudsen, Business Area Manager, Residential at Louis Poulsen, points out that Louis Poulsen “tried several times to make this lighting family in different materials and surfaces, but we have never been satisfied. We’ve still kept the black, white and graphite grey colors and the same silky matt surface, which is so elegant. Glossy would have been wrong. We’ve gone through numerous processes to obtain such a soothing, subdued effect for the desk, floor and wall versions of the AJ lamp.” The 5 new colors are muted hues named after the rooms in which they will each appear at Copenhagen’s Radisson SAS Royal Hotel as of the 1st of March 2010. On the 18th floor of the hotel, you’ll find them in newly, renovated double rooms and suites selected according to which color would blend in best. A monument to Jacobsen’s modernism "Jacobsen was a visionary. A genius who was truly ahead of his time,” says the General Manager of the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Roy Al Kappenberger. From the design of the hotel building itself to the sweeping spiral staircase and Swan and Egg chairs to all the details of the interior décor, Jacobsen created a unified brand experience back in 1960. He ushered in a whole new visual vernacular for mid-century modern design. According to Kappenberger, “Jacobsen left his indelible mark on the design DNA of our hotel. For me, it’s an imperative to keep his design lineage alive." To that end, Room 606 is the only one of 275 rooms left unchanged. Like a miniature museum, it’s a tribute to Jacobsen’s enduring sense of aesthetics.
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