One of the most counterfeited designers, whose chairs and lamps are a favorite of today's design-loving customers. Bright colors, simple shapes, timeless style, is this the recipe for a person's name to never be forgotten? It seems that Verner Panton, the great gun of 20th century Danish design, thought so . Born in 1926 in the Danish village of Gamtofte, the designer was already an experienced artist when he graduated in architecture from the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen in 1951. He began his career in Arne Jacobsen's studio, but was driven by the desire to have his own business, so he only stayed there for two years. He was truly known for three house prototypes: the 1955 folding house, and the 1960 Cardboard House and Plastic House.
But it was around this time that his best-known product was born, the injection-molded plastic, now known as the Panton chair, a lightweight and colorful piece of furniture without legs. Panton was the first designer to use this technology to create a jointless chair that was also comfortable. The model, officially called the S Chair, follows the shape of the body, that's its secret. The 60s and 70s proved to be truly productive; in addition to furniture, he also designed wall coverings, textiles and lamps. He received his first major commission from his parents: he had to redesign the family inn on the island of Funen, for which he had already designed his own furniture, the design classic Cone chair. This work was essentially the catalyst for him to try to find manufacturers for his designs for the house, and this is how his collaboration with Louis Poulsen, among others, began.
The designer took the plunge
Panton's life is not full of twists and turns. His career progressed nicely, in 1960 he designed the Astoria Hotel in Trondheim, the interiors of which included a large number of his own products. Interestingly, this project also resulted in the world's first transparent, inflatable seating furniture. The media also started to pick up on it, and in 1961 his furniture first appeared in the prestigious Danish magazine Mobilia. He was present at several design exhibitions, and at the Cologne International Furniture Fair, the Flying Chair model was a huge success among visitors. In 1965, Thonet began mass-producing the S Chair – of course not in the colorful plastic form we know today, but from so-called molded, laminated veneer lumber, which was quite a technical feat at the time; this chair was the first piece of furniture to be made this way. In 1969, he received a huge commission: he had to design the interiors of the headquarters of the Spiegel publishing company in Hamburg, from the canteen to the offices, from the staff swimming pool to the lobby.
Verner Panton, the renowned artist
The designer has received design awards in every decade of his career, most of them German or Danish. In 1988, he received a Knight's Cross for his work from the Queen of Denmark, and in 2000, Vitra organized a retrospective exhibition for him in its museum in Weil am Rhein, where a road was named after him. The collaboration with Vitra established his world fame, as they took over the serial production of the S Chair from Thonet. (No Scandinavian factory undertook serial production, citing the impossibility of this. They now obviously regret the amount of money this simple form brought the company.) It should be mentioned here that Panton would probably not be the same without his second wife. Marianne was not only his manager, but also the brand ambassador, and she was one of the people who pushed for the agreement with Vitra.
Another factor in Panton's success was his use of bright colors. He had studied color psychology during his studies, and he knew exactly what people needed to feel good in their homes or workplaces. (In the family inn, for example, he used five shades of red together to create a warmer atmosphere.) As he put it himself: "People don't like it when you like colors. It's the same when you have imagination. Most people want what they're used to. I have to go to extremes to overcome that."
