A Total Lighting Design
After a long fascination with Arne Jacobsen and his iconic AJ Table Lamp, I was lucky enough to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, to see his work in its original home. I spent days exploring the city and making two important stops, the SAS Royal Hotel and the Design Museum Denmark. It was fascinating to experience his work in the flesh in the hotel and learn all about his life and process in the museum. On my flight home, filled with excitement about what I had just seen, I was left feeling dissatisfied with the lack of emphasis on my favorite lamp, the AJ Table Lamp.
I thought to myself, how could I do this better? How could I bring this lamp to the forefront of the conversation?
I spent the following weeks concepting and designing an exhibition that does just that. Highlighting the history and industrial design while allowing visitors to interact with the object physically.
The first gallery space explores the origins of the AJ Table Lamp in connection with the total design of the SAS Royal Hotel. The lamps are displayed in custom display cases that reference the gridlines of the hotel’s building. Wrapping around the gallery are historical photographs with contextual information about the lamp and the hotel.
The second gallery space brings the viewer closer than ever to the AJ Table Lamp. The larger-than-life exploded lamp emphasises the iconic form in each of its individual parts.