Pholc | Swedish Lighting Since 2015

Background

Pholc was founded in 2015 by Maja and Samuel Norburg, with an explicit ambition to define and shape what Swedish design can be, rather than simply add to an existing category. The brand currently frames its own work as “Objects of Experiment” — a description that fits a company built as much on formal risk-taking as on production.

Design philosophy

Pholc’s stated belief is in expressive simplicity: timeless aesthetics with a strong enough personality to call for attention rather than blend into a room. The brand deliberately keeps itself in motion between the familiar and the unknown, treating conformity as the thing to design against rather than a neutral default.

Broberg & Ridderstråle: the defining collaboration

Broberg & Ridderstråle has shaped Pholc’s collection longer and more extensively than any other collaborator, starting with Apollo in 2020 and the cardboard-inspired Romb table lamp the following year. Their Turner pendant, launched in 2021, was scaled up into a larger size in 2025 — by then already being described internally as an iconic design.

International collaborations

Milan-based studio Studiopepe brought a more sculptural, art-object sensibility to the brand with Dream Catcher, a moveable light sculpture. Maria Bruun and Anne Dorthe Vester co-designed the architecturally-referenced Meter lamp, and Vester later returned solo with Lille. Nina Jobs and Stina Sandwall’s pleated-textile-inspired Donna pendant has been in the collection since 2020.

Recent work

John Astbury’s Fall, a gently reworked take on the classic opal glass globe, is Pholc’s newest release in 2026 — evidence the brand keeps adding fresh voices even as its longest-running collaboration with Broberg & Ridderstråle continues to grow.