Verner Panton – The Panton Chair (1960)

The experimentation of the swinging 60s found its way into the realm of Danish design with unconventional ideas of furniture and interior designer, Verner Panton. Classified as the most Italian of Scandinavian designers, he brought pop art ideas into the furniture aesthetics of his time and place, creating wholesome interior spaces, full of colour and imaginary shapes.

Panton’s fluid-like forms and daring furniture look doesn’t follow function at all – it follows FUN! His signature futuristic and widely influential graphic aesthetic produced bold forms – therefore an idea of a cantilever chair made from one single material appeared. The Panton Chair was envisioned as a curvaceous statue, extremely innovative both in materials used and colour combinations available. Besides the imagination embodied, the chair offers an additional function of sitting, which is attractive not only to adults but also to children (Panton Junior). Its presence on the market was unique and it became very popular with consumers due to attractive shape and resistance of the material, which still allows its use indoors and outdoors.

This chair, as well as Panton’s aesthetics in general, embodies emotionality and his effortless approach to enjoying life. It is a timeless design that indubitably makes it a design icon.

Author: Katarina Bogataj

Photo: https://www.vitra.com/en-au/product/panton-chair-classic