The sculptural elegance of PH furniture & pianos

BEST OF | Issue 04 | AUTUMN/WINTER 2025/26

The “3 Days of Design” in Copenhagen are certain to deliver surprises to all design fans. And the same thing applies for STREIFZUG. While strolling through Bredgade, well-known far and wide as THE designer street of the city, we discovered a very special highlight for you: the showroom of ToneArt, in the immediate vicinity of the Royal Palace (Kongens Nytorv), with an exclusive presentation of works by the illustrious Danish designer Poul Henningsen.

ToneArt is a young Danish brand which presents some of the most fascinating pieces of furniture, piano and audio designs in Scandinavia hailing back to past times, stemming from present modes, and reaching into the future, all with the express goal of enriching everyday life with functional products which are simultaneously valuable works of art. Deeply rooted in the opulent design traditions of Scandinavia, ToneArt has the world-wide and exclusive license from the Poul Henningsen family to produce and market the outstanding piano, furniture and mirror designs by Poul Henningsen ranging from the 1920s through the mid-1950s. All these PH designs are to be considered Danish cultural legacy pieces but have never been in any real production before ToneArt acquired the license and started production in stages over the last decade.

Today, ToneArt has brought a full collection of PH designs to life. Additionally, ToneArt is working with contemporary Scandinavian furniture designers and crafting unique design glass ball speakers with high fidelity sound quality. The large showroom of ToneArt – located right in the heart of Copenhagen – is a journey into a world of lifestyle where innovation meets legacy, setting new standards for authentic designs that are playing on all senses in life and providing sensory experiences.

Poul Henningsen …

… created functional design concepts which were frequently provocative. Everything which PH – that is his “nom de plume” and trademark at the same time – generated, followed with astonishing consequence along the lines of one sole principle: it had to be simple, functional and brought straight to the point, whether it was architecture and furniture or cultural criticism and poetry. With this philosophy, PH ushered Danish living styles into the modern era and left his indelible stamp on them.

Apart from lighting, piano and furniture designs, he also designed houses, a factory, a city-sector of Tivoli, the interior furnishings of two theatres and several pianos – every single item became a time-less icon of design. As one of the Danish experts for lighting, he generated as far back as 1925, for example, a lighting fixture without any glare or reflection – an icon of lighting which was awarded the gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. It is still being manufactured today and enjoys far-reaching demand from clients globally.

The PH Pianos

The PH Pianos are hidden gems and true functional artworks, and all authentic PH Pianos are now crafted in-house by ToneArt. PH Pianos are sculptural pianos, genuinely designed in the 1930s by the real world-renowned designer. They are statements in form, colour, and intention with a clear design philosophy like no other piano on the market. Authentic PH Pianos are artworks that inspire, provoke and talk to the audience and owners and provide sensory experiences for daily joy and as investment pieces for the next generation of the family. All authentic PH Pianos from ToneArt – ranging from the most iconic glass-lid PH Grand Piano designed in 1930, over the stunning looking PH Bow Grand Piano from 1937 and resembling the Opera House in Sydney and to the beautiful PH Upright Piano – are true hand-craftsmanship pianos that can only be configured according to a limited range of materials and colours in full line with the approvals of the Poul Henningsen family in order to keep true to the original PH design. All PH Pianos by ToneArt are delivered together with a hand-crafted leather box and authenticity documents, thereby ensuring that authentic PH Pianos also become lifelong investments.

The sculptural elegance of PH furniture

Poul Henningsen’s artistic encounter – or perhaps one should say, confrontation, as a pioneer of functionalism in Denmark – was fundamentally inspired by the Bauhaus designer principles. “We wish for ourselves no new shapes and forms unless they are dictated by a purpose,” was its founding principle and leading light. People who are interested in the iconic, functional furniture designs of PH are by nature curious. They treasure the multi-faceted diversity as well as the lightness of being, they love the extraordinary and the unusual, are attracted to what is provocative, drawn to what is inspiring. The fact that each and every piece inimitably bonds artistic expression and rock-solid functionality, thereby raising the sophistication and the value of the room in which it stands – for it makes the room its own – harmonizes both with traditional and classical, yet also with modern and avantgarde interiors.

PH Bow Grand, designed by Poul Henningsen in 1937

Currently, PH Furniture pieces and PH Pianos are experiencing a rather high-flying renaissance, thanks to ToneArt and the Founder & CEO Søren Vincents Svendsen who travels all over the world to raise attention to Danish cultural heritage pieces that are being brought to the market for the first time. Lovers, fans, adherents, collectors and connoisseurs of design all over the world are now able to feel, experience and acquire the timeless elegance and power of innovation right here – in series, thanks to modern manufacturing techniques – as well as in individually adapted hand-workmanship quality in absolute perfection.