LYFA

Why it is renowned

LYFA won gold medals at the world's fairs in Barcelona in 1929 and in Brussels in 1935, the second for its Ra lamp.¹² Its later lamps won several design prizes in Denmark and abroad, among them Simon P. Henningsen's Divan 2 pendant of 1962.¹² The British design magazine OnOffice covered its return at 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen, where the relaunch was staged with the Danish-Italian studio GamFratesi.³

The story

The company was founded in 1903 as Kjøbenhavns Lampe- og Lysekronefabrik and took the name LYFA, from lysekrone (chandelier) and fabrik (factory), around 1930.²¹ By 1935 it employed about 400 people, and from 1929 it was based on Blankavej in Valby.¹ In 1928 Poul Henningsen sued it over table lamps close to his PH lamp; in 1930 the court found one of five lamps to be a copy.¹

From the 1940s it worked with architects and designers such as Bent Karlby, Finn Juhl and Piet Hein; Karlby designed for it for more than four decades.² It merged with Fog & Mørup in the late 1970s, passed to Lyskær and then Horn Belysning, and was closed in 1998.² LYFA was relaunched in 2020 with reissues of designs going back to 1946, shown at 3daysofdesign on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen.²³ Its newest lamps, the FUTÉ family, are by GamFratesi.⁴

What to know it by

• Divan 2²1962Simon P. HenningsenPendant of mirrored trapezes, made for Divan 2 in Tivoli
• Peanut⁴1946Bent KarlbyPendant in mouth-blown opal glass and brass
• Ninotchka⁴1954Bent KarlbyPendant after a hat Greta Garbo wore in Ninotchka
• Sundowner⁴1948Jørn UtzonFour-shade pendant
• Mosaik²Bent KarlbyPendant series of cones and cylinders