Introduction
Verner Panton was born in 1926 on the Danish island of Funen. Here he grew up with his father, Henry, an innkeeper. Following the end of the Second World War, there was an international sense of optimism in design that was apparent especially in Norway, Sweden and Denmark; as it was here above all that modern design became relevant providing democratic, clean and modern furniture at a price affordable to all. To quote from one of Panton’s obituaries – “This (post-war) buoyancy was crucial to the shaping of Panton’s mindset.”
As a young man, Panton had dreamed of being an artist, but respecting his father’s disapproval, worked as a bricklayer instead before attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen to study architecture. Post-graduation, Verner was employed by the famed Danish designer Arne Jacobsen and it was in Jacobsen’s studio that he started to design furniture. Here he also had a part in designing “The ant” chair which later became Denmark’s best-selling chair. Panton said of his time working with Jacobsen – “I have never learned as much from anyone as I did from Arne Jacobsen. He taught me to be confident in my own work and to never give up.”
Figure 1
Panton set up his own studio in 1955 and his first major commission was to design an extension at his father’s inn. For this commission he was both the architect and the interior designer. Verner designed most of the light fixtures, textiles and furniture which were all designed using five shades of red. This innovative project attracted massive publicity and one chair design for this project in particular made Panton a big name both sides of the Atlantic. This was called the “cone” chair and had no legs but resembled an ice cream cone.
Figure 2 – Cone Chair (REF)
Piece of Work 1: S Chair
During the 1950s, Verner Panton started work on designing his most famous piece, the Panton chair, also known as the S chair. It was the first single-form injection-moulded plastic chair. It has been said that the idea came to him after being inspired by a colourful stack of buckets while on a visit to a factory that produced said buckets as well as safety hats.
The design was eventually put into production by the Swiss company Vitra in 1965. The highly innovative design initially proved both complex and difficult to manufacture but apart from a brief break after 1979 has been in production ever since. When first introduced it generated a lot of interest and even featured in a 1970 Nova magazine article about how to undress in front of your husband. It also featured on the cover of Vogue magazine alongside Kate Moss in 1995.
Figure 3
Art Context
Bauhaus
It could be said that Bauhaus was a strong influence on Panton’s designs. The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius who aimed to bridge the gap between fine art and craftsmanship. “There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman,” – Gropius. Panton would already have understood this as he started out as a craftsman himself before studying at the Royal Academy of Arts. This way of teaching at the Bauhaus produced work that was functional and well designed. “They were simple and useful, and their simplicity made them beautiful.” – William Cook. The Bauhaus designers adhered to the principle of “form following function”. This principle can be seen at work all through Panton’s work.
Marcel Breuer studied at the Bauhaus before teaching there himself in the joiner’s workshop. He was a successful architect with his own firm but is best known for his furniture designs specifically his chairs. The Wassily chair became his most identifiable design. Chair model number B33 by Breuer, designed 1927-28, could be credited specifically as an inspiration for the design for the Panton chair. The lack of back legs creates a similar S like shape in Breuer’s design. When looked at side by side, Panton’s chair could be considered a modernised version of Breuer’s Bauhaus design.
Figure 4
Minimalism
Panton’s work has often been described as minimalistic. Using just one colour or just one piece of material are features of many of his design, particularly the Panton chair. Minimalism, as an artistic movement, is said to have started in the early 1960s in New York. Minimalists separated themselves from abstract expressionism and produced a genre that was “non-relational, non-hierarchical and anti-compositional”. Nevertheless, designs produced before the suggested starting point are also considered important pieces in the minimalism design movement. For example, the Zig Zag chair designed by Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld. The chair designed in 1934 is a much earlier example of furniture seemingly made out of a single piece of material.
Figure 5
Other Contexts
New Materials
After the Second World War, there was a need for affordable housing and furnishings. Post-war houses were smaller than those from before so furniture had to be light enough to move around and be easily stored. “The elaborate households of the pre-war years were gone, replaced by informality and adaptability”
With the development of new materials and technologies from the war designers were well equipped to deal with the new brief. The development of plastic allowed lighter more versatile furniture that could be stacked and moved at will. As these items could be mass produced it also lowered the cost, making plastic furniture the way forward for making affordable furniture for all. Panton always took advantage of new technologies and materials in his work. His Panton chair design was even created before the current technologies allowed it to be produced. “I never experiment for experiment’s sake – but I love trying to find new possibilities.”
Piece of Work 2: Visiona II
In 1970, Panton was invited for the second time by the German chemical company Bayer to create an interior space aboard the boat they rented to use as a showroom during the Cologne furniture fair. The showroom was rented yearly to show developments in textiles and materials. Panton created a cave-like interior with lots of bright primary colours where all of the furnishings came in from the walls and the floors creating an integrated landscape.
Figure 6
Some of the pieces exhibited on the boat were ready to go into production straight away, whereas others were just to showcase the capabilities of the new fabrics and materials. Verner Panton said that the work was important to expand peoples idea of interiors at home; “It is not laid down in any law that a living-room must always and forever be furnished with a sofa and two armchairs around a table which is far too low. There must be other leisure and relaxation possibilities for the home.”
Art Context
Bio Morphism
A potential influence of Panton’s Visiona II landscape may have been the art movement known as Bio-Morphism. Bio-Morphism is an art style that came about in the 20th century. Work produced in this art style has organic and natural forms that have more curved than angular lines.
These pieces tend to be more abstract and only hint at the human or organic form.
Prominent artists engaging in this style at the time included, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Louise Bourgeois. One of the most representative pieces in this movement is the sculpture “to be lost in the Forest” by the Franco-German artist Jean Arp in 1932.
Figure 7
The curved forms found in Arp’s sculpture look as though they could have been cut from the negative shapes found in Panton’s cave like experience in Visiona II.
“design with a strongly organic feel played a major role in post-war reconstruction. With the straight geometrical lines of rationalism tainted by association with Fascism, designers turned to the curve.”
In Scandinavia during the post war period in the 1940s and 50s artists such as Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino Aalto from Finland found themselves creating furniture with organic shapes in keeping with the bio-morphism movement. After the second world war Alvar designed buildings to rebuild the nation.
Figure 8
This building designed by Alvar is for Cambridge MIT a block of dorms that allow every room to have a view of the river. Danish architect and designer with whom Panton spent two years employed with, Arne Jacobsen has also been suggested to have contributed to the bio-morphism movement in Scandinavia. His famous egg chair uses similar shapes and lines found in visiona II.
Figure 9
Even the ant chair designed with the assistance of Panton himself has been said to have bio-morphic properties.
Other Context
Space Race
The technological advances made during the war fed developments in aerospace technology thus launching the Space race. This saw both sides in the Cold War racing towards the next technological advancement that would put them closer to space. The launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union in 1957 marks the beginning of the space age. Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001: a space odyssey was the most successful sci-fi film of the 1960s. It explored space travel in a time when that seemed ever more possible. The scenes of the Hilton Lobby of space station five in the film feature futuristic red chairs designed by Oliver Mourgue the French industrial designer.
Figure 10
Kubrick’s film brought futuristic furniture design to the attention of millions of people. This influence of pop-cultures helped spur a change in taste which meant styles like Panton’s were highly sought after. it was the responsibility of the designers to cater for the consumers wishes. Films like A space odyssey and technological advancements about at the time helped create the public opinion that technology was good.
Conclusion
The period in which Panton was a practising designer and architect, was a time of great change. The post-war period created new and challenging briefs for furniture designers and new problems to solve. The arrival of new technologies and materials demanded new designs also, designs that took advantage of these advancements and explored the possibilities and limitations. I believe that fellow designers and art movements around throughout Panton’s life and career have had a noticeable influence on his work. He was able to take shapes and ideas that had previously been a success in their own right and modernise them with the help of these new technologies and techniques and with what he learnt and experienced throughout his life and career. Panton moved these art movements and styles forward whilst being part of traditions and ideologies that came about years before he was a designer in his own right.
“Everything one does can be traced back to heritage, the environment in which one grew up and the influence of those people one met and what one experienced. If I say that I work freely without influence of any kind, such a statement is also the result of influences. I steal ideas left, right and centre… but the good Lord whispers the odd trick in my ear now and then.”