In most parts of the world, he is known as PH. A design icon, immortalised through his pioneering three-shade system, the System PH. But to Mads Wille, he is simply ‘great-grandad Poul’.
Louis Poulsen met Mads for a conversation about heritage and history, and about the values PH has left behind for the world.
“It wasn’t until relatively late that I realised my great-grandfather was a celebrity. My mother and great-grandmother didn’t talk about him as a world-famous man. They just referred to him as ‘Poul’. He died shortly before I was born, so when I was a child, they were, in a way, still coming to terms with the grief of losing him. But his presence was always very much felt. His paintings and lamps filled all our homes, so he was a natural part of our interior world.
The significance of the lamps has clearly grown stronger for me over time, especially those I’ve inherited from my mother. I naturally think of her, and therefore of him too, whenever I look at them.”
The PH family has always kept a bit under the radar, and it is only recently that Mads has started talking about his great-grandfather.
“For many years, it wasn’t something I talked about much.
Partly because it wasn’t something we boasted about in the family, but also because he is such a big part of our shared national cultural heritage that most Danes already have a connection to him.
So, I only mention it if I’m in a setting where it makes sense; otherwise, the evening can quickly end up being all about that.”
PH’s designs are iconic and possess a deeply rooted historical value. But for Mads, they symbolise a sense of responsibility.
“It’s clear that growing up with PH as my great-grandfather means something special to me, but not in the way people think.
I saw how my mum shared the same values as him, and I think that has instilled in me a sense of responsibility. It was important for us as a family to hold on to those values, to be in the world in the same way.
In reality, that’s probably just as much a part of PH’s legacy as his designs.”
There are many sides to PH: the lighting designer, the architect, the cultural critic, the revue writer, the inventor, the playful child, the workaholic.
But there is one story that means more to Mads than any other.
“The story that has made the greatest impression on me is the one about PH as ‘freedom fighter’. I remember the adults talking about the war a lot. Back then, it was still very much fresh in people’s minds.
During the war, PH openly criticised the occupying forces, and he managed to carry on like that for quite some time, until one day he found out there was a plot to have him killed. So, he fled with his wife Inger to Sweden in a tiny rowing boat – together with Arne Jacobsen and his wife actually. When they returned to Denmark after the liberation, he began to criticise the resistance movement’s campaign of revenge against the ‘German girls’, as they named them. He was truly hated and harassed for this – but he didn’t care and simply carried on writing.
The story ends with the man who was supposed to kill him knocking on his door one day and saying, “I was supposed to do it”. He apologises. And I think it’s very symbolic: how PH’s way of being, so steadfast in his moral convictions, was so inspiring and compelling – to everyone.”
Despite the many facets for which PH is already famous, there is one particular aspect of him that Mads would like us to remember him for as well.
“I wish more people knew about his passion for kites, because it says so much about who he was.
He loved building kites and published a wonderful book about it, but it was just as much because he championed free play and advocated for thoughts to fly freely – regardless of whether you were 5 or 95 years old. Everything stemmed from a passion, and that passion was the same whether he was building kites, writing chronicles, or creating light.
I believe the world would be a better place if we all adopted the same approach.”
