While the increasingly specialised skillsets of architects, interiors designers and industrial designers mean it’s rare for a single person to be responsible for the design of an entire building from foundation to furnishing, that’s exactly what Danish designer Arne Jacobsen was tasked with for the creation of Oxford University’s St Catherine’s College. Jacobsen considered every element of the project, including the lighting, and for the first time, his classic Oxford Table Lamp design will be available for purchase thanks to the Danish lighting firm Louis Poulsen.
In the same way that Frank Lloyd Wright designed the office furniture for his Johnson Wax Headquarters building in 1939, Jacobsen put his mind to every element of how the campus would look and feel, adopting the traditional quadrangle layout of Oxford but bringing his own aesthetic sensibilities to the leafy college. Despite being best remembered for his furniture design today, Jacobsen’s work to create functional lighting led him to design a range of table lamps to illuminate the long oak tables of the college dining hall, which included a number of different base designs to accommodate their various locations.
The collection offered by Louis Poulsen honours Jacobsen’s original design, featuring the same long and narrow black metal stems, with the options of either an entire glass clam-shaped shade or half the shade in black metal matching the stem. Just like the originals, there’s also the choice of either a free-standing base or a pin base to secure into a desk directly, as well as a number of different stem lengths. There’s nothing quite like a good lamp to keep you company while working away, so if you’re in the market, the Louis Poulsen AJ Oxford Table Lamp is well worth a closer look.
