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Hammerborgs on film

Since becoming addicted to The Killing and Borgen we've tried out a mixed bag of other Danish TV series, and most recently have been watching [more]

Why Jo Hammerborg's Orient is incomplete without its louvre

So the first Jo Hammerborg light reproduction has finally appeared, and the wisdom of the crowd has made itself apparent in our poll by correctly [more]

Changes ahead in the market for Jo Hammerborg lights

One of the features that has driven the increasing popularity of 60s and 70s Fog & Mørup lighting as a target for collectors – along [more]

Fog & Morup did not produce Carl Thore lights

In recent months we have noticed an apparent increase in the number of eBay sellers repeating the incorrect claim that the multilayered pendant lamps usually [more]

Jo Hammerborg and the Formland lamp series

The information that emerged from our correspondence with the Hammerborg family over the past 18 months (which has informed our new biography of Jo Hammerborg) [more]

Our new website dedicated to Jo Hammerborg

In May 2011 we wrote a post laying out the few facts we had been able to gather together during ten years of trawling through [more]

Solved! the Danish star light designer mystery

A couple of years ago we wrote a post (which you can read here) about the fact that we had been unable to find reliable [more]

Another twist in the Jørn Utzon Søvaernspendel debate

The identity of the designer of the Søvaernspendel, the light produced first by Nordisk Solar Compagni and later by Louis Poulsen, has been the subject [more]

The lights of Louis Weisdorf: Multi-Lite (1974)

The economic downturn of the 1970s brought new challenges for the designers of high-end lamps and other luxury goods, as producers' support for the experiments [more]

A tale of two Topans: the Pendant & the Spot

Verner Panton’s futuristic 1959 Topan light design for Louis Poulsen has rarely been out of the limelight in its more than 50 years of existence. Frequently copied and never out of style, the clipped sphere has stood the test of time and is an undisputed design classic.

But how many people know that early versions of the Topan were divided into two models – the Topan Pendant (Topanpendel) and the Topan Spot (Topanspot), both available in a choice of polished aluminium or light grey? The difference between the two models was in the strength of the bulb they were designed to take, the Topan Pendant using a 75 watt bulb and the Topan Spot a 100 watt.

Also largely forgotten today is the fact that both Topan models were available either with or without a metal grille to shield the bulb. Of the Topan models available in the mid 1960s, numbers 16570 and 16571 were Topan Pendants without and with grille respectively, while 16572 and 16574 were the Topan Spot equivalents.


Verner Panton Louis Poulsen Topan light

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