Verner Panton

Verner Panton ( born February 13, 1926 in Gamtofte at Assen; † 5 September 1998 in Copenhagen) was a Danish architect and designer. He led one of the first pop art into the world of furniture. Therefore, he is considered one of the most influential furniture designers and interior designers of the 20th century.

Career

Panton studied in the years 1947 to 1951 at the Technical University in Odense and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. After completing his studies (1950-1952) he was given the opportunity to work as an assistant in the design studio of architecture Stars Arne Jacobsen. During this time, Panton was involved in the design of the ant, the most famous chair by Arne Jacobsen.

However, Panton differed from the former style with soft shapes and natural materials; Panton preferred artificial materials. So he left after only two years, the studio Jacobsen and Denmark. In the years 1952-1955 a journey followed with his VW bus across Europe. In 1955 he finally opened his own design studio and started with the first mass production of his designs. In 1958 he raised for the first time worldwide attention through the Wire Cone Chair.

For Michael Thonet in Vienna he developed the chair cantilever S, a cantilever chair made ​​of one piece molded plywood under steam pressure and experimented for several years in order to apply this principle on the material plastic. For first he used rigid polyurethane foam. 1959/60 he managed with the Styrocopolymer acrylic ester-styrene - acrylonitrile ( ASA) the design of associated with his name Panton Chair, which was marketed as the first monoblock cantilever made ​​of plastic.

In 1963, Panton moved to Basel and began working with the furniture manufacturer Vitra. 1967, Vitra the new material in the handle and started the series production. The Panton Chair Verner Panton helped the final breakthrough and led to worldwide recognition.

In 1969 he designed the interior for the publishing house of the mirror in Hamburg. The canteen was maintained even when an extension 1998 in the original style. When moving the publishing house in Hamburg's HafenCity end of 2011, parts of the cafeteria were installed as a snack bar in the new building. The rest of the facility was transferred to the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg. In 1970, the exhibition of the residential landscape Visiona II from different foams, which he installed on behalf of Bayer AG for the Cologne Furniture Fair on a chartered as an additional exhibition space inland on the Rhine followed. In 1984 Panton adopted a visiting professor at the Offenbach School of Design.

Although Panton won several design awards, he already lost in the 1970s gradually in importance. The reason is considered the oil crisis, " the end for the uncritical use of plastic" meant. However, he experienced mid-1990 again a revival. Among other things, brought the magazine Vogue 1995 Kate Moss sitting on a Panton chair on the front page. Died in 1998 Verner Panton shortly before a planned retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts Trapholt in Kolding, where he himself had cooperated.

Panton's style

Panton's designs were prototypical of the psychedelic designs of the 1970s and worked often rather than spatial sculpture than as a commodity. He used vivid colors from the entire spectrum of the rainbow. In the 1980s he experimented with geometric shapes. He was fascinated by the possibilities of the new plastics that gave complete creative freedom in shape and color to it by its lack of structure. Panton loved to experiment with colors and materials. So he created among other things, the first inflatable furniture made ​​of plastic.

His vision was especially the complete fusion of features and spatial units. Furniture ensembles should be provided in the final analysis also on the head still usable. He "took the idea of ​​paralyzing to enter a living room and knowing exactly where and in what position he had to spend the night." His goal was to completely abolish the traditional tripartite division of space from the floor, walls and ceiling. Panton's legendary interior design concepts can be seen as the zenith of his work.

His oeuvre can be described itself best by a quote from Verner Panton:

Important works

Moon Lamp (1960 )

One of the first lights the Panton designed. Spherical Pendant with 10 vertical, fan-shaped aluminum fins, painted white. Manufacturer: Louis Poulsen, Denmark. In the U.S., " Visor" called.

Panton Chair (1967 )

Already during his studies, Panton spent with the idea of behind legless chairs. 1955 Panton was the first drafts of an S- shaped chair, still in teak. The development of plastics has enabled him to reconsider the concept. The decisive factor was the new curvy design of the foot sections that completely was not necessary a stand and even created additional legroom. What the Panton Chair went so extraordinary was not just his extravagant design and color, but above all that he has only been made ​​from a single piece of plastic. This impressively showed the possibilities offered these new materials. The Panton Chair is not only undoubtedly the most famous work of Panton, but also one of the most important chairs of the 20th century.

Pantower (1969)

Panton always aspired to, reallocate the "living space" apartment. He pursued particularly the idea to structure the living room vertically to fit in better with skyscrapers. His " Pantower " clearly shows these elements and the experimentation of 1968. The division into four different height levels opens a multitude of new seating and reclining.

Visiona II (video presentation, external link )

  • " VISIONA II" video ( runtime 2:08 min)

Visiona II ( 1970)

At the Cologne Furniture Fair Panton presented his draft of a visionary colorful interior landscape. The individual space components lose their original function and flow together to form a single parent space. Unique distinctions between the seat and relaxation areas are in the cavernous space no longer possible.

PantoSeries (1995)

The Pantoflex series, produced by VS Vereinigte special furniture factory in Tauberbischofsheim, brought forth the first school chair, which was tailored to the ergonomics of children.

Awards

  • International Design Award, USA 1963, 1968, 1981
  • Rosenthal Studio Price 1966
  • PH Prize 1967
  • Domus € 2, Italy 1968
  • Medal of Austrian Building Centre, Austria 1968
  • "Federal Prize for Good Form ", Germany, 1972, 1986
  • Møbelprisen, Denmark 1978
  • German selection 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986
  • Colour Prize Denmark 1986
  • Danish Design Council Annual Award, Denmark 1991
  • IF Award, Japan 1992
  • Norwegian Design Award 1992
  • Bedre Prize, Denmark 1998

Important exhibitions

  • Dansk Købestævne, Fredericia, Copenhagen 1958
  • Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Louvre, Paris 1969
  • Museum of Applied Art, Cologne 1994
  • Trapholt Museum, Kolding 1998 ( retrospective, he died shortly before the opening of the exhibition, conceived by him )
  • Design Museum, London in 1999
  • Nordic Embassies, Berlin 2011
September 5 Vitra (furniture) Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach Vogue (magazine) Human factors and ergonomics Poul Henningsen Frankfurter Rundschau Integrated Authority File
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