Finding Verner Panton’s Colorful Touch Everywhere
June 30th, 2021 Written by: Avinash Rajagopal for Metropolis MagazineAn ongoing Vitra exhibition of Panton's work has us seeing the designer's influence all over contemporary furniture design.
Sponsored by Bayer, and created on a boat for the Cologne Furniture Fair in 1970, Verner Panton’s Visiona 2 exhibition presented avant-garde living concepts. In Phantasy Landscape (shown here) architecture and furniture melded into one environment.
Courtesy Panton Design; all product images courtesy the manufacturers
Eye-popping color, easy postures, and immersive environments—these are the ways that Verner Panton has most visibly influenced designers today. But the Danish designer—whose work is now on display at the Vitra Design Museum—was no slave to styling. His use of color, for instance, was based on its effects on human psychology, while his ability to exploit new materials is legendary. So if they’re used just as thoughtfully, the following products can help create spaces that are both exuberant and comforting.
Panton would have approved of the relaxed form of this chair, which is reminiscent of a baseball glove. El Salvadoran designers Harry and Claudia Washington created the Mitt out of a need for chairs that had no hard edges and could be moved around—a leather handle and casters make this seat mobile.