The influence that designers have on their time and on future generations is a nice measure of their skill. Verner Panton was nothing if not very influential. Panton was well known for a number of revolutionary designs, both in material and form. The hallmarks of Panton's works are the sculptural elegance, the striking forms, and most of all, the color. Panton's work stood out from the work of his contemporaries in the greatest possible ways.
Panton began his life on the Danish island of Fynen, his father was an inn keeper. His interest in design led him to study at the Academy of Art in Copenhagen. This was followed by a two-year stint at Arne Jacobsen's architectural office where he was supposedly not the best of employees, preferring to spend his time on developing his own ideas.
Panton has a number of classics that go with his name. The one that is most known is the Panton stacking chair. This metal outer shell, is in production right now by Vitra, using better plastics (injection-molded ploypropylene) rather than the first ones produced by Panton. There are a lot of lower priced Chinese copy cats of this design that are on the market, that actually cause the designer's reputation to be damaged because of the poor quality, however, it is a great way to show off a great design. In a situation like this there would be no reason to purchase a copy cat design being you would end up with a chair that you cannot sell for profit which would mean you would only save about thirty percent on the cost of the real thing. This year Vitra has the limited edition orange Panton chair so there is no way you can make any type of excuses!
Another of Panton's great designs is the Cone chair. These chairs were astonishing at the time of their release, the single pivoting point being a huge departure from the three or four legs people expected from a chair at the time. I remember my first encounter with this chair clearly as I could not get over the optical illusion it produces. It seems to just stand, perfectly balanced, top-heavy and paying no regard whatsoever to the laws of physics.
These two pieces, combined with Panton's famous interior designs (heminredning), had a big influence on the upcoming decade. In 1973, Panton came up with one more iconic design. This time, it was a System 1-2-3 chair made for Fritz Hansen. The System 1-2-3 might sound like a failed formation at a company football challenge, but in fact it's a very well designed chair that is made with flexibility, comfort, and ease of production in mind.
Despite these three pieces being design classics, the example of Panton's work you are most likely to come across is not a chair, but a lamp. The Flowerpot lamps (both table and pendant) are extremely widely distributed. This is because their cost of manufacture is relatively low, they are small, come in a range of colors, they have the name of a great designer to them and above all, they have an instantly 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. Verner Panton was nothing if not very influential. One more of Panton's excellent designs was the Cone chair. These two pieces, combined with Panton's famous interior design (inredning), had a big influence on the upcoming decade.
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