The story of LE KLINT began at the start of the 20th century, when the first pleated lamp shade was folded by P.V. Jensen-Klint, architect and Master of Engineering. P.V. Jensen-Klint made it to fit a paraffin lamp, which he had also designed.
With help from the entire LE KLINT family, a number of friends and sons, Tage and Kaare, the newly assembled LE KLINT team, worked hard on refining the new shade and in return received one as a gratitude gift. This was a customary act in those days. In 1943 Jan Klint pioneered the LE KLINT family handicraft and pleating skills into a real business. Jan Klint masterminded a new outstanding and decisive detail to the LE KLINT shades, which were then added, the elastic collar.
LE KLINT's pleating girls are a very special asset to the LE KLINT family. The craft of folding lampshades is preserved in Odense, Denmark - and nowhere else in the world. The LE KLINT factory is the only place in the world that produces the cross-pleated lampshades. Countless engineers have attempted to produce a machine that can fold cross pleats. To date however, the task has proven to be particularly difficult and no machine has yet improved on this craftsmanship.
It takes a LE KLINT pleating girl a year to learn the technique then two to three years to master all the models in the range. Many of the pleating girls have been working at LE KLINT for many years and within LE KLINT, people joke that new employees cannot expect to be taken seriously until they have celebrated their Silver Jubilee!
An LE KLINT apprentice pleating girl is taught how to fold the perpendicular pleated folds of the classic model 1 shade and the wavy pleating of the Sinus Line in her first year. The pleats are folded along embossed patterns and lines in the plastic material. The embossing machine, developed by LE KLINT, comprises a brass roller, which embosses the patterns onto a roll of material. This means that there is a separate roller for each model.
When the material is embossed, it is cut into pieces, each corresponding to a specific lamp or lampshade, and pleating work can begin. After pleating, the shades are sewn together with a single seam (wherever applicable, on the inside). The shade is then turned so that the seam is invisible.
Down the years, the dexterity of the pleating girls has transformed the LE KLINT designers' drawings into real shades. The LE KLINT girls play an active part in converting new ideas into de facto production.
Throughout the 20th century, LE KLINT lamps were developed in cooperation with architects and designers. The LE KLINT designs have been adjusted continually to keep up with technological advances. The story of LE KLINT is not merely the story of a company, but also reflects the history of design and technology for more than one hundred years - a century during which LE KLINT has evolved into today's modern manufacturing company with a strong grip on traditional craftsmanship.
In cooperation with highly respected designers and architects Le Klint and Lightopia offer a wide range of contemporary lamps with emphasis on functionality, aesthetics, and quality, thus enabling Le Klint and Lightopia to be much more than just light.
Lighting Designer: LE KLINT
LE KLINT Website
LE KLINT Handcraft Movie
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