Cooper Hewitt says...
Born in Ordrup, Denmark, Henningsen studied at the Danish College of Technology from 1911-17. By 1920 he was a practicing architect in Copenhagen, designing restaurants, residences, and factories while also pursuing other areas of interest; he worked as a journalist, playwright, and edited a Danish cultural review. In 1924, the Danish lighting firm, Louis Poulsen & Co. hired him, and it was the lighting fixtures he designed for this company that launched his international reputation. His Poulsen lighting for the 1925 Paris Exposition won a gold medal, and a year later, the first production versions of his PH lamp series debuted as a lighting commission for the new Forum exhibition building in Copenhagen. The PH design was based on his scientific studies of light diffusion and distribution. He continued designing lighting for Poulsen, and his PH series, along with his Artichoke lamp of 1958, are considered design icons
