Plafonnier par Bent Karlby pour Lyfa, années 50

L’architecte et designer danois Bent Karlby est né en 1912 à Århus et fut diplômé de l’école technique de sa ville d’origine autour de 1932. Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, il rejoint le mouvement de la résistance danoise, contribue au journal illégal Danish Journal et aide les réfugiés danois et suédois. En 1943, il se réfugie en Suède et ouvre un studio de design l’année suivante. Dans les premières années de l’après-guerre, il se rend en Angleterre, aux Pays-Bas, en Belgique et aux États-Unis. On présume qu'il est revenu au Danemark dans les années 1950.

Bien que Karlsby soit connus pour ses intérieurs, ses papiers peints et ses accessoires, peu de ses créations ont su traverser les époques comme l’ont fait ses luminaires développés pour Lyfa.

Les réussites de cette collaboration dans les années 1960 incluent China Pendant, Kvadrille Wall Light, Omega Pendant, Pan-Opticon Wall Light, Påfugl/Peacock Wall Light, et Wonderlamp Pendant. La plupart des créations de luminaires de Karlby pour Lyfa possèdent une esthétique « Space Age » exprimée par le métal, l’acrylique ou le verre.

Karlby s’est éteint en 1998.

Danish lighting company Lyfa was originally founded ca. 1924 under the name of Københavns Lampe Og Lysekronefabrik in the early 20th century. Based in the greater Copenhagen area and renamed Lyfa ca. 1930, the firm began producing table lamps inspired by the multi-shaded PH Series (from 1925) by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen. Lyfa's lighting continued to show this influence through the 1940s.

By the 1950s, Lyfa had built an international reputation for original, high-quality, modernist lamps. In the postwar era, the company collaborated with esteemed architects and designers to produce minimalist, sculptural, "Space Age" table lamps, wall lights, and pendants, especially in colored glass, plastic, and enameled aluminum.

Bent Karlby, in particular, created a number of successful designs for Lyfa in the 1960s, such as the Kvadrille Wall Light, Omega Pendant, Pan-Opticon Wall Light, Påfugl/Peacock Wall Light, and Wonderlamp Pendant. One of Lyfa's most iconic designs is the Facet Pendant (1963/66), as well as its successor, the polychrome Facet Pop Pendant (1970) by Louis Weisdorf. It's also believed that Lyfa was the main producer of Orrefors lighting and designer Carl Fagerlund.

Other standout Lyfa collaborators in the midcentury include Michael Andersen, Acton Bjørn, Claus Bonderup, Piet Hein, Klaus Helweg-Larsen, Simon Henningsen, Finn Juhl, and Nils and Eva Koppel.

In its heydey—from the 1950s to mid-1970s—Lyfa was considered a pioneer in innovative, architectural lighting. Along the way, the company received numerous awards—including multiple International Forum Product Design Awards. Lyfa merged with Danish lighting competitor Fog & Mørup in the mid '70s. The new company operated as Lyfa-Fog & Mørup until the 1980s when it was taken over by a mass-market lighting producer, Lyskaer, and the Fog & Mørup brand was abandoned. That company has since changed hands, with the Lyfa label currently owned (but largely discontinued) by Nordlux of Ålborg.