Verner Panton in the 1960s

From June 2 to October 1, 2005, the AXA Gallery, in cooperation with the Vitra Design Museum, will present a major exhibition on the work of Danish designer and architect Verner Panton (1926-1998). True to the character of its featured designer, the exhibition creates a highly sensory atmosphere, presenting Panton’s boldly patterned fabric designs, futuristic furniture, colorful light fixtures, and trademark molded plastic chairs. The Vitra Design Museum has assembled this large–scale retrospective as a compliment to Verner Panton’s extraordinarily extensive and diverse body of work.

It is hard to distinguish which is the 1960s design icon – the classic single piece molded plastic chair or Panton himself. Verner Panton’s many inventions – flowerpot lamps, multi-leveled living towers, and inflatable furniture – can be seen individually as historic advances in interior design, but collectively they reveal a greater vision. Panton’s interests were not limited to the design of single objects, but extended to the development of entire spaces. The artist said of his work, “I can’t bear to enter a room and see the sofa and coffee table and two armchairs, immediately knowing that we are going to be stuck there for an entire evening. I made furniture that could be raised and lowered in space so that one could have a different view of the surrounding and a new angle on life.” In this context Verner Panton’s important contribution to modern design can be fully understood.

Verner Panton – The Collected Works was curated and organized by the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany. The AXA Gallery is sponsored by AXA Financial. Additional assistance has been provided by AXA Art Insurance Corporation.

Heart-shaped Cone Chair, K series (Kraemmerhusstole), 1958-60 Steel, foam rubber, wool Plus-linje, Denmark Collection of Marianne Panton

As a child Verner Panton longed to become a painter, but showing little talent for the subject he chose to study architecture. Since schools of design as we know them today did not exist at the time, it was not unusual for artists in Panton’s generation to become designers via architectural training. Undoubtedly Panton would later combine his passions for art and function, experimenting with both form and color, to become one of the greatest innovators in modern design. The young architect had two encounters that probably had the most influence on his professional development and thus his career path. While studying at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen in the late 1940s, Panton met Poul Henningsen, known internationally for his designs in lighting. Henningsen soon began to mentor Panton in Scandinavian tradition, an influence that can be clearly seen in Panton’s own lighting fixtures. Among many things, Henningsen taught Panton a systematic approach to solving design problems, an openness to technical innovations, and a broader conception of functionality. Panton met his second great influence in 1950 when he began working for Arne Jacobsen. At the time Arne Jacobsen, who was regarded as Denmark’s leading architect and designer, was working on one of his most famous designs – the Ant chair. Working for Jacobsen, Panton gained experience handling new materials, and searching for an appropriate production technology. Indeed, Panton remarked of his time with Jacobsen that he had “learned more from him than from anyone else”.

Photograph of Swimming Pool, Spiegel publishing house, 1969 Hamburg © Panton Design, Basel

Early in his career Panton struggled to find an audience for his designs. Like many European artists living in the Beat years of the 1950s, Panton bought an old camper van to travel the continent. He turned the VW camper into a mobile studio and made several extensive journeys through Europe, learning about the latest developments in international design and making contacts with other artists, producers, and distributors. In the late 1940s and early 1950s – the period that Panton was finishing his training in design and beginning his career – the Scandinavian countries (and the United States, were defining modern design. Traditional Scandinavian style that Panton was trained in was strongly characterized by handicraft traditions in its choice of materials and production methods. But many designers whom Panton encountered on his travels were challenging this norm by working with newly developed materials, and using new industrial production techniques. Panton’s travels led to a basic understanding of the large variety of production options available to apply to a design project. More importantly perhaps, his exposure to cultural ferment of the late fifties led to his development as one of the most reputable and influential designers of the sixties.

Panton Chair, 1967 Fiberglass reinforced polyester, lacquered Production: Herman Miller/Vitra, Switzerland / Germany Collection Vitra Design Museum

Verner Panton’s affection for new production materials and his quest to rethink traditional design standards can be best seen in his most famous piece: the Panton Chair. This chair, manufactured by Vitra and unveiled to the world in 1967, immediately marked its place in the history of design by becoming the first chair to be made in one piece, entirely from synthetic material. It was a furniture designer’s dream – a completed chair that was literally one piece. A single colored piece of curved plastic, the bold and elegant chair seemed to grow out of the floor. The new simplified production method was cost effective; a chair that could be taken as one part directly from the mold would eliminate the assembly process. Not only did the chair set a new standard for what was technically achievable (the chair was also stackable), it defined a new era of design. Departing completely from the Danish craft tradition and strict functionalism of his predecessors, with this chair Panton now belonged to a distinctly international design community.

Furnishing fabric collection Decor (I), design Curve (multicolor), large repeat, 1969-71 Cotton velvet, printed Mira-X Stoffe, Switzerland / Germany Collection of Taunus textildruck, Germany

Even more evidence of Panton’s departure from Danish functionalism, and of his influence on 1960s popular design, is witnessed in his fearless use of color. “I am not fond of white,” Panton once stated. “The world would be more beautiful without it. There should be a tax on white paint.” He used strong, often clashing colors, on everything. Again, Panton’s artistic impulse seemed to be guiding his design principles, so much so that color was often the most essential feature in his work. For Panton, the use of color was not only a way of heightening the effect of a single piece, but a means to tie all pieces together to form a larger whole. Perhaps what set Panton apart most from other prominent designers of his time was his vision of a complete ambience. His goal to reach a holistic design solution – one that overcame the traditional room division into three separate worlds, the floor, the walls, and the ceiling – was largely aided by the use of his textile designs. In 1969, he developed a systematic structure that was based on eight colors, five geometric shapes (circles, squares, stripes, curves, and checkers), two fabrics (cotton velour and cotton cretonne) and three sizes of repeats. The system was created to allow home textiles, in the form of furnishing fabrics and carpets, to mix and match, thus enabling a more encompassing living environment.

Moon Lamp, 1960 Lacquered metal Louis Poulsen, Denmark Collection Vitra Design Museum K2 (Wire Cone Chair), K series (Kraemmerhusstole), 1958-1960 Steel, lacquered steel wire, foam rubber, wool Plus-linje, Denmark Collection of Marianne Panton

Like one of his early mentors, Panton chose to devote a lot of attention to the design of light and artificial light sources. In fact it was Poul Henningson who tutored Panton in the basic principles of lamp construction, and inspired his fascination with light as a means to create an emotional impact. And following lessons from, Panton often integrated colored reflectors in his lamps, giving off tinted light to influence the mood of a room. Between 1955 and 1998, Panton designed more than 25 different lamps which played an integral roll in his design of space.

Living Tower, (original,1968) Wood, foam rubber, wool Herman Miller / Vitra, Switzerland / Germany Re-edition Vitra Design Museum, 1999

Increasingly, as he expanded the mediums he worked in, Verner Panton desired to experiment with design experiences that went beyond the purely function and rational. All of his designs, to some degree, must be understood as an invitation to an atmospheric and sensual experience. By the peak of his career, in the height of the flower-power ideals of the 1960s and 1970s, Panton was using his designs to tear down restrictive social conventions and give way to an environment that was both casual and intimate. Included in Panton’s experiments in living space were 3D carpets, flying chairs that swung from the ceiling and were height adjustable (1963), a multifunctional unit for eating, sleeping and socializing (1967), and his famous Living Tower (1968). With these experiments Panton did not merely introduce new objects into formal interiors, but set as his task to change the rigidity in which interior architecture had been defined to that point. No longer could his work be discussed in terms of a single object – simply a chair, or a lamp – because each element was so integrated with its surroundings.

The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, opened in 1989 in connection with the furniture manufacturer Vitra. The museum is devoted to recording the history and current developments in industrial furniture design, and is constituted by one of the most extensive collections of modern furniture design, comprising over 4000 objects. The Vitra Design Museum has always had a close connection with Verner Panton, due to the artist’s involvement with Vitra in the 1960s in developing his now famous chair. Soon after the Museum was founded, Panton transferred a fair number of objects from his holdings into its collection. Long overdue, the Museum has now put together this retrospective of Panton’s work, drawing on its unique collection of the designer’s objects and archives.

AXA Gallery showcases works from all fields of the visual arts, with a special interest in exhibitions that would not otherwise have a presence in the city. The gallery is located in the atrium lobby of the AXA Equitable Tower, 787 Seventh Avenue at 51st Street, in New York City. Hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; closed Sundays. Admission is free.