PH Artichoke: Metal, Glass or Pale Rose, How to Choose

Three versions of Poul Henningsen's Artichoke are in production at the same time: the metal original, the sandblasted glass version and the Pale Rose edition. They share one silhouette and one 1958 geometry, then part company on material, weight and the way each leaf returns light. Here is what separates them, and how to match one to a room.

Seventy-two leaves, twelve rows

Henningsen designed the Artichoke in 1958 for the Langelinie Pavilion in Copenhagen, where the original fixtures still hang. Its 72 leaves sit in 12 rows of six, each angled so the bulb stays hidden from every viewing position while light travels from leaf to leaf before it reaches the room. Every example is assembled by hand in Denmark, signed and numbered.

The principle is older than the lamp. Henningsen's PH Septima, made between 1927 and 1931, layered glass shades towards the same end and was discontinued in 1940 when materials ran short; the Artichoke revived the idea in a form that could be built from sheet metal. For the reasoning behind his shade work, we set it out in how the PH three shade system works.

All three versions run on the same hardware: a high-lustre chrome-plated frame, a 4 m white fabric cord with wire, a canopy and one E27 bulb of up to 100 W. The metal version is also made with integrated LED, in 2700K, 3000K and a dimmable 3000-1800K. All are rated IP20 for indoor use, and none of them includes a bulb.

Metal, glass or lacquer: what actually changes

The PH Artichoke Pendant Lamp keeps its leaves in powder-coated or satin-polished steel, with brass, copper and stainless steel versions, and the inner side wet-painted. Reflection is the whole business of the object, so finish decides mood: copper and brass push the light warm, satin-polished stainless steel keeps it cooler and closer to a mirror, and the painted colours read matte. The paired finishes (dusty blue, dusty green or soft white with brass metallised or high-lustre chrome-plated leaves) hold a quiet colour against a reflective one.

The PH Artichoke Glass Pendant, launched in 2008, swaps steel for matte sandblasted glass, clear or yellow, on a laser-cut brass frame in high-lustre chrome plating. Light now passes through the leaves as well as bouncing off them, in what Louis Poulsen calls a picket fence arrangement, so the fixture reads milky and luminous whether it is lit or unlit. Set beside a copper or steel Artichoke it is the airier object, lighter in expression if emphatically not in mass.

The PH Artichoke Pale Rose Pendant brings a hidden detail to the surface. The first copper Artichokes had their inner leaves painted a warm rose to soften the colour of the light; the Pale Rose edition lacquers every leaf in that hue over the same chrome-plated steel frame. The softening stays, the metallic glint goes, and the result sits as easily in a bedroom or a living room as over a table.

The three side by side

Weight, and what the ceiling has to hold

This is where the three genuinely diverge. A metal Artichoke starts from 10.1 kg at Ø 480 and from 14.2 kg at Ø 600, quoted as minimums because weight moves with finish and light source. The Pale Rose at Ø 600 is 11.1 kg. Glass rewrites the arithmetic: 24.0 kg at Ø 480, 37.9 kg at Ø 600, 49.0 kg at Ø 720 and 64.6 kg at Ø 840.

At the largest size the glass version is close to six times the weight of the Pale Rose, and that load arrives at a single point in the ceiling. The canopy needs a fixing into structure, a joist or a rated ceiling anchor, rather than into plasterboard alone, and an older lath and plaster ceiling usually wants a backing plate or a spreader across joists. Have an electrician confirm what the ceiling can take before anything is drilled. The 4 m cord allows a deep drop into a stairwell, but every extra metre still hangs from that one point.

Sizes, and how high to hang

Metal and glass are both made in four sizes; Pale Rose is offered at Ø 600 only. In metal, Ø 480 measures 480 x 445 x 480 mm, Ø 600 is 600 x 580 x 600 mm, Ø 720 is 720 x 650 x 720 mm and Ø 840 is 840 x 720 x 840 mm. The glass version shares the three larger sets of measurements but stands taller at the smallest: 480 x 570 x 480 mm, so 570 mm of height against 445 mm.

Over a dining table, leave roughly 60–70 cm of clear air above the tabletop and measure from the lowest leaf, not from the canopy, because the shade itself is between 445 and 720 mm deep. Ø 480 suits a table for four, a kitchen island or a room with an ordinary ceiling height. Ø 600 is the size most dining rooms settle on. Ø 720 and Ø 840 want a double-height room, a stairwell or a long table, somewhere the lamp can be read from below and from the side, which is how the leaf geometry shows best.

Which one belongs in your room

Take the metal Artichoke if you want the reflective, sculptural object and the widest choice of finishes and light sources: copper over a walnut table, brass in a warm room, stainless steel where the rest of the scheme is cool and hard-edged. Take the glass version if you want a fixture that glows rather than glints, and if the ceiling can carry between 24 and 64.6 kg depending on size. Take Pale Rose if the room wants the Artichoke's geometry without the metal, or if the palette runs to oak, warm neutrals and brass accents; at 11.1 kg it also makes the simplest fixing of the three.

Whichever version you settle on, treat it as the centre of gravity in the room and leave it space to be seen from more than one angle. To weigh it against the rest of the field, browse the full range of pendant lamps.