They started in 1904 with a wholesale business consisting of three small rooms and a cellar in Aarhus. 25 years later, the company had grown into one of Denmark’s largest lamp manufacturers. In 1906 Ansgar Fog and Erik Mørup bought a company in Copenhagen that traded lighting products for gas and petroleum. The entire wholesale warehouse in Aarhus was packed together in a rail car and moved to Copenhagen. They also took the only employee, the errand boy Jørgen. However, he quickly jumped off. One morning there was a note. He had traveled home to Aarhus, “because he could not bear the longing”. The trade in lighting articles went smoothly and the company grew. In 1915, Fog and Mørup founded three small workshops that manufactured chandeliers. The workshops were the start of the actual lamp production.

25th anniversary

In the 1930s it became clear that the repertoire was in need of renewal. One of the first initiatives was the Kongelys lamp. It would later become a classic. Originally designed by Niels Rasmussen Thykier in 1930, but put into production by Fog and Mørup in 1937. The first copy was donated to King Christian X on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as regent.

Royal candles initially had a cardboard screen. It was a very fragile material, so subsequent editions had more robust screens made of fabric, acrylic plastic or metal. Condition, foot and switch contact also change over time. The first lamps were made of brass, later they switched to polished brass, and a short transition Kongelys was available in chrome-plated steel. The switch switch is on the oldest lamps just above the foot at the bottom of the trunk, and on the oldest the switch is continuous. On newer versions, the switch is located further up on the contact housing. Production resumed in 1999 and 2004 in a run of 500 each of the years, but by then Fog and Mørup had been acquired by Lyfa in 1988, which was acquired by Lyskjær the following year. Horn Belysning bought Lyskjær in 1991, which changed its name to Lightyears in 2005. The rights to Kongelys followed during the full ownership transfer. You can read the whole story about Fog and Mørup’s early years in two anniversary writings, written by Erik Mørup in 1929 and 1944 respectively.