VL 45 Radiohus Pendant vs Portable Lamp: Which to Choose

Louis Poulsen makes the VL 45 Radiohus in two forms: a pendant wired to the ceiling and a rechargeable portable lamp with a leather strap. Both carry the same mouth-blown glass shade, so the decision is really about how you want the light to sit in a room. This comparison sets the two against each other, then brings in the smaller VL 56 Pendant for anyone weighing up a second Vilhelm Lauritzen design.

Where the VL 45 comes from

Vilhelm Lauritzen drew the VL 45 Radiohus Pendant around 1941 for Radiohuset, the Danish Broadcasting House in Copenhagen. Lauritzen designed the building and its interiors together, so the lamp was conceived for studios, corridors and offices rather than as a showpiece, and it is now read as a landmark of Danish functionalism. The shade is mouth-blown in three layers of glass, glossy on the outside and quietly luminous once a bulb sits behind it. It hangs from a brushed brass fitting that Louis Poulsen leaves untreated, so the metal darkens into a patina over the years instead of staying bright.

The pendant: sizes, glass and light source

Size is the first decision, and the two diameters people choose between do quite different jobs.

• Ø 175: 175 x 246 x 175 mm, 2.9 kg, with an E14 light source of up to 20 W.
• Ø 250: 250 x 328 x 250 mm, 4.4 kg, with an E27 light source of up to 100 W.

A larger Ø 370 is made as well. In practice the Ø 175 works best in multiples or in tight spots: a pair beside a bed, or a row of three above a kitchen counter, where the small shade keeps sightlines open. The Ø 250 has enough presence to carry a small dining table on its own, and its E27 fitting leaves more room to tune brightness through the bulb you choose. The glass comes in glossy white opal, pale rose, pale yellow and amber, each with a white inner side that keeps the downward light warm and even. The cord is 4.4 m of white fabric and a canopy is included, so the drop can be set high above a table or low over a worktop. The fixture is rated IP20 for indoor use and the bulb is chosen separately.

The portable version: the same glass, no ceiling point

The VL 45 Radiohus Portable Lamp takes that swelling opal shape and stands it on a rechargeable base. At 175 x 275 x 175 mm it matches the Ø 175 pendant in width but sits taller, and it weighs 2.4 kg in white opal or 5.0 kg in pale rose and pale yellow, which is ballast enough to keep it steady on an outdoor table. Instead of the pendant's untreated brushed brass, the frame is aged brass with a hairline, lacquered finish, so it holds its darker tone rather than shifting year by year. A genuine leather strap runs over the top, which turns carrying it from the dining table to a balcony into a one-handed move.

Light comes from a built-in LED at 5.4 W and 2700 K, dimmed by touching the lamp, and charging is over USB-C with the angled 1.5 m cable included. Three glass colours are made: white opal, pale rose and pale yellow. Because the output is fixed and modest, this is a lamp for atmosphere at close range rather than for lighting a whole room, which is exactly what a cordless lamp is usually asked to do.

VL 45 pendant, VL 45 portable and VL 56 side by side

Where the VL 56 Pendant fits in

If the VL 45 reads as too soft for the room, the VL 56 Pendant is the harder-edged Lauritzen. He designed it in 1956 for the Danish Labour Movement's building in Copenhagen, now the Vega concert hall, where it still hangs above the wood-panelled bar. The shade is metal rather than glass, in polished chrome-plated aluminium or polished brass, and a radial perforation pattern around the opening softens the border between the lit surface and the darkness around it. Both finishes came back into the range in 2023.

At 177 x 112 x 177 mm and 3.5 kg it is wide but shallow, and it aims light downwards onto whatever sits below: a dining table, a kitchen island, a bar counter. It takes an E27 bulb of up to 40 W, arrives with 4 m of white textile cord and a canopy, and looks best hung two or three in a row for a quiet rhythm. Chrome suits crisp, cool interiors, while the untreated brass patinates in the same way as the VL 45 fitting, so the two Lauritzen designs age together if you use them in the same flat.

Choosing between them

Take the pendant if you have a fixed table or counter and want a permanent light over it, then match the diameter to the surface: Ø 175 for bedsides and for rows above a worktop, Ø 250 to hold a small dining table on its own. Take the portable if the light has to follow you, if there is no ceiling point where you need one, or if the general lighting is already in place and what the evening lacks is a warm pool of light at eye level. Plenty of rooms end up with both, since the two read as one shape at two heights.

Choose the VL 56 instead when the surface below matters more than the glow above, or when polished metal suits the room better than glass. Our guide to the best portable designer lamps looks further at the cordless side, and the full Louis Poulsen collection shows how the VL 45 sits alongside the other Copenhagen classics.