Verner Panton

Verner Panton - Turning the design world on its head with colour and form

Verner Panton in his studio - with Panton Chair and Globe pendant light

Born in 1926, the Danish designer Verner Panton originally wanted to study painting, but decided to study architecture on the advice of his parents. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, he worked for two years from 1950 in the office of Arne Jacobsen. Despite this extremely instructive collaboration, Panton went his own way, which differed significantly from Jacobsen's style. in 1955, he founded his own studio for design and architecture and quickly attracted attention with his first designs. Unlike many of his Danish contemporaries, Panton's work focused on strict geometric shapes, organic lines and a bright colourfulness that was revolutionary at the time.

A milestone in Panton's career was his acquaintance with Willi Fehlbaum, the founder of Vitra. Together they developed the Panton Chair in the early 1960s. This free-swinging plastic chair, which was the first chair in the world to be moulded from a single piece, is now one of the most important design classics of the 20th century. Other iconic designs such as the Cone Chair and the Heart Cone Chair, which were originally designed in 1958 for the Danish restaurant Kom-Igen, were created at the same time.

Panton also set standards in luminaire design. The Flowerpot luminaire from 1968, the VP Globe from 1969 and the Panthella luminaire from 1971 reflect his intensive exploration of light and colour. Panton's work always revolved around the holistic relationship between form, light, people and space. This was particularly evident in the interior design of the Spiegel publishing house in Hamburg in 1969, where he not only designed furniture and luminaires, but also transformed floors, walls and ceilings into an immersive, harmonious whole. In the 1970s and with the rise of postmodernism, Panton's work became comparatively quiet, but his designs made a strong comeback in the 1990s as part of a major Sixties revival.

While Panton cooperated directly with partners such as Vitra, Fritz Hansen and Louis Poulsen during his lifetime, his legacy is continued today through careful licensing. For example, the VP Globe pendant lamp (1969) is now produced by Verpan. The Danish company &Tradition also produces classics in close collaboration with Panton's estate, such as the Flowerpot series Verner Panton died in 1998, but his visionary thinking and his radical approach to colour, form and space continue to have an impact today. His designs have had a lasting influence on the modern understanding of design and remain the expression of an extraordinarily independent oeuvre.