PH Question Mark, Luna and Piano: Henningsen's Curved Stems

Poul Henningsen built most of his table lamps around one move: bend the stem, and the shade sits over the page instead of behind it. The PH 2/2 Question Mark, the PH 2/2 Luna and the PH 1/1 Piano all use that curve, and each one reaches a different distance for a different surface. Here is what separates them.

Why the stem curves

Henningsen's three shade system was worked out to solve glare. The shades are stacked so the bulb never sits in the line of sight, and the light leaves them reflected and graded rather than direct. On a pendant that is enough, because the fitting already hangs above the table. On a table lamp the same head has to be carried forward, over a book, a score or a plate, and carrying it forward is the whole job of the curved stem. Our piece on how the PH three shade system works explains the numbering behind the names.

These three lamps come from the two decades in which Henningsen pushed that idea hardest. Two of them were drawn in 1931. The third belongs to the late 1930s, the stretch that produced the most settled versions of the system.

PH 2/2 Question Mark: a curl of brass and pale rose glass

The PH 2/2 Question Mark Pale Rose Table Lamp was designed in 1931 and named for what the stem does. It rises, curls back on itself like punctuation and finishes under the shade head. The head then tilts 45° to either side, which was rare in an early PH lamp: most of them place the light, this one aims it.

The shade is mouth-blown four layered glass in pale rose, glossy on the outside and sandblasted white on the inside, so the colour stays visible in the room while the surface facing the bulb remains matt. Socket housing, shade holder, stem, base and switch are untreated brushed brass with the fine hairlines left in, a finish that deepens with handling instead of staying fixed. The cord is 2.8 m of white textile with a through switch.

It measures 275 mm wide, 410 mm high and 200 mm deep, and weighs 5.1 kg. That weight matters in use: the lamp holds its ground while you swing the head across the desk, so the base never needs a second hand. The light source is E27, one bulb, maximum 25 W, rated IP20 for indoor rooms. Of the three it is the one to choose if the light has to move during the evening, from a book on the nightstand to a wall you want washed in rose tinted light.

PH 2/2 Luna: reading light for the side of a bed

The PH 2/2 Luna Aged Brass Opal Table Lamp was conceived in the late 1930s for the most particular task in the house: light beside a bed, open enough to read by and contained enough to leave the person next to you asleep. A 20 cm top shade sits over matching lower shades, all of them three layered mouth-blown opal glass, glossy outside and sandblasted inside.

Its stem curves as well, but quietly. Rather than carrying the head far out, it leans it toward the reader, which keeps the bulb hidden from someone sitting up with a book and from someone lying down beside them. The body is lacquered aged brass, already darkened, so it settles in next to oak, walnut and rattan rather than standing out against them.

The shade is Ø 255 mm, the lamp stands 324 mm high, and the base is Ø 120 mm. At 1.6 kg it is the lightest of the three, easy to lift from a nightstand to a windowsill or a low bookshelf when the evening moves. The cord is 2.5 m of black textile and the switch sits on the base, within reach without sitting up. Light source is E27, one bulb, maximum 75 W.

PH 1/1 Piano: a shade carried out over the keys

The first PH Piano Lamp was drawn in 1931 for people who read music. Its stem is curved and movable, taking the shade out over the keyboard while a globular counterweight at the back holds the balance. The head tilts 45° backward and 25° forward, so the light falls on the score and not in the player's eyes. The PH 1/1 Piano Table Lamp, in the Limited Edition 2026, keeps that mechanism and brings it down to table lamp proportions.

The shade is four layered mouth-blown glass in dusty terracotta with a white inner side, closed underneath by a frosted diffuser and bottom glass. The colour reads warm from across the room while the light below stays soft. Frame, arm and counterweight are brushed brass, aged and clear lacquered with the hairlines still visible, and Henningsen's initials are engraved on the switch housing. Because the glass is mouth-blown, one piece varies slightly from the next.

The proportions give the idea away. It is 417 mm across against 364 mm high, on a base of Ø 153 mm with a Ø 160 mm shade, so it is wider than it is tall and its spread runs horizontally. That is why it settles along the top of a piano, a desk or a windowsill without crowding whatever stands behind it. The cord is 2.6 m of dark brown textile with the switch on the lamp, and the light source is G9, maximum 20 W, IP20 and Class II.

Which one suits which surface

Read the three rows on size and adjustment together and the decision usually makes itself. The Question Mark is the working lamp: heavy in the base, free at the head, happiest where a task moves around during the evening. The Luna is the quiet one, small and light, built for a single fixed distance between the shade and a book. The Piano is the long one, drawn to reach across something wide, and the one that changes a room most when it is switched off, because a low horizontal shade in terracotta glass reads as an object rather than a fitting.

Colour is worth a last thought. Pale rose and dusty terracotta both put warmth into the room while it is daylight outside, which suits a surface you look at all day. Opal stays neutral and disappears into a pale wall until it is lit. If you want to see how these three sit against the rest of the field, from Bauhaus re-editions to cordless designs, browse the full Table Lamps collection.