Alfred Homann - Simplicity, Clarity & Logic.
Alfred Homann’s design is characterized by simplicity, clarity and logic. He was a pleasant perfectionist, understood in the sense that his being and manner were pleasant to be with. He took an interest in the people he worked with, and a collaboration quite often developed into a friendship. Alfred Homann was interested in people, which is why there was always something to talk about when you had just discussed a tiny detail, because he almost never gave up until he was completely convinced that things couldn’t get any better.
Alfred Homann was originally an architect. He designed some remarkable homes, including a farm and surrounding areas. A project which was imbued with Alfred Homann’s sense of detail and proportions. His holistic approach to things did not deny itself in this project. One can easily imagine being a guest on this farm. The atmosphere burns through, and it’s not just because the photographer is good.
Renovations actually became a destiny for Alfred Homann, when he led the renovations of buildings and backyard environments in Nyhavn, in Denmark in the period 1979 to 1981. Together with Ole V. Kjær, he designed a wall lamp for the buildings, which was obviously named Nyhavn. This was the start of an adventure and contributed to Alfred Homann becoming a world-renowned and highly regarded lighting designer.
Alfred was solution-oriented, and his huge success, the Kipp lamp, in particular, is proof of this. The then director of Louis Poulsen, Hans Cordes, had started the project and set a price on what the cost of the lamp should be. It was attained, but just 10 kroner over; so, the product development team had to start over. Alfred came up with some small changes in the construction of the lamp, and then they landed on the price. The Kipp light became an instant success worldwide. It is featured in many projects in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, England, but especially in Japan and the USA it has been received with enthusiasm. It has a light and unobtrusive design, an extremely large adaptability to both nature and architecture, the latter regardless of its genre. It presents itself as a modern design in modern architecture, and classical with classical architecture. Soon after its launch, the Kipp light expanded into a series that currently includes a bollard and a wall lamp.
Alfred Homann’s sense of proportion also produced his interpretation of the quarter sphere, namely Homann Wall and M2 Wall, and here too he focused on the luminaire remaining visually in the dark as a whole by creating a slot between the screen and the back plate, which resulted in a light and decorative streak of light of the upper screen. All harmoniously and aesthetically correctly executed.
Alfred Homann had new challenges in connection with the launch of the LED light sources. Where before changing the light source was a challenge, the light source was now the challenge, as it was now part of the fixture, and Alfred Homann interpreted this light source in a beautiful and very simple lamp Homann Park, which was launched in 2017.
Alfred Homann worked until his last day on a family of garden furniture that he had developed for the Danish company Carl Hansen og Søn. An entire series where each piece of furniture was designed to fit into the “family”. The furniture is characterized by some very unique and beautiful details, which again clearly prove Alfred Homann’s enormous focus on the importance of small things for the whole. Even joints are not just joints, they are visual details that more than anything else help to differentiate his garden furniture from others. The way cushions are used has also been thought down to the smallest detail. Unfortunately, Alfred Homann did not get to see the finished prototypes, they landed first at Carl Hansen og Søn on Tuesday, where Alfred Homann was laid to rest in Copenhagen Cathedral Vor Frue Kirke the Wednesday before. The many participants at his funeral truly emphasized the kind of person Alfred Homann was.
Alfred Homann was born in April 21, 1948 and died in August 19, 2022. He received numerous design awards both for his architecture as well as for his lighting fixtures.
