AJ Royal is among the Arne Jacobsen designs developed in 1957 for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen (Radisson Collection). Here it could be found in a copper version above the tables in the snack bar behind the atrium, in the lounge on the 1st floor and in the Panorama Lounge on the 21st floor. The hotel opened in 1960 and with its 22 floors it gave Copenhagen its first real high-rise building heavily inspired by New York skyscrapers. In those days, the lamp was simply called the AJ Pendant. The segmented spherical design from 1958 is regarded as Jacobsen’s first steps back to the basic geometrical shapes that characterize the world-famous Danish architect’s later designs. The AJ Royal formed part of the overall design concept that Jacobsen developed for the hotel, of which a number of designs have achieved iconic status. Jacobsen did not only design the hotel down to the smallest detail for SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), he also designed nearly all the hotel’s original furniture and utility items. The lamps are probably the most well-known globally, including the AJ Lamp from 1957. The AJ Royal was originally produced in three colors: light grey, dark brown and black. Today, the AJ Royal is available in white in its two original sizes. A smaller variant is introduced in 2020 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the opening of the hotel, just as the series is reintroduced in black. The AJ Royal retains its classic, graphic look as sharply as ever – irrespective of whether it lights up a dining table, is used in an office, or a showroom, where it ensures an even and flawless downward light and generates ambience with its softened upward light.
