The influence a designer has on their era and future generations is a good measure of their ability. Verner Panton was nothing if not influential. Panton was known for many revolutionary designs, both in form and material. The hallmarks of Panton’s work are sculptural elegance, striking form and above all, color. Panton’s work stood out from that of his contemporaries in the best possible way.
Panton, the son of an innkeeper, began his life on the island of Fynen. An avid interest in design led him to study at the prestigious Academy of Art in Copenhagen. He followed this with a two-year stint at Arne Jacobsen’s architectural office.He was allegedly not the best of employees, preferring to spend his time on developing original ideas.
Panton has a nunber of classics to his name. The most famous of them is the instantly recognizable Panton stacking chair. This monocoque form is in production now by Vitra and uses more advanced plastics, such as injection-molded polypropylene, than the ones Panton first saw it produced in. There are many cheap, Chinese copies of his design out there, which, though damaging to the designer’s reputation due to poor quality, are a definite sign of a nice design. There is not really much of a point in buying a copy, since you’d get a chair which cannot be sold for profit, and you would generally only save about 30 percent on the cost of the genuine article. Vitra has a limited edition, orange Panton chair this year, so there are no excuses!
The Cone chair is another one of Panton’s great designs. This type of chair was astonishing when it was first released. It was a huge departure from the standard three or four legged chairs that people were used to. This is what made the Cone chair so different and unique. The first time I saw this chair I was blown away by the optical illusion it produced. It seems to defy the laws of physics by standing perfectly balanced even though it is top-heavy.
These two pieces combined with Panton’s famous interior designs (heminredning) had a huge influence on the coming decade. In 1973 Panton created yet another iconic design. This time it was the System 1-2-3 chair for Fritz Hansen. The System 1-2-3 may sound like your failed formation at the company football tournament but it is in fact an incredibly well designed chair made with flexibility, ease of production and comfort in mind.
In spite of these three pieces being design classics, the example of Panton’s work that you’re most likely to come across isn’t a chair but instead a lamp. The Flowerpot lamps, both pendant and table, are very widely distributed. This is because the cost of the manufacture is comparitively low, they’re small, they come in many colors, they’ve got the name of a fine designer on them, and most of all, they’ve got an immediately recognizable classic form.
Panton was such a prolific designer that it would be possible to write for days about his work. In its time it pushed boundaries and confounded expectations. Indeed much of Panton’s work has survived the psychedelic stigma of the sixties and takes its place among the timeless modern classics of furniture and interior design (heminredning).
The influence that designers have on their time and on future generations is a nice measure of their skill. The hallmarks of danish furniture (danska möbler) designer Verner Panton are the sculptural elegance, the striking forms, and most of all, the color. The most common piece of Panton’s work you are likely to see is a lamp. His table and pendant Flowerpot lamps are found everywhere. A day or two will not be enough to write about the work of Panton. His work crossed boundaries and confounded expectations. His work survived the tests of centuries and has taken its place in the timeless modern classics of furniture and interior design (heminredning).
- John Melaugh