PANTON Verner

Verner Panton (1926-1988) is a Danish designer and architect. He studies architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Early 1950s, he works in Arne Jacobsen's office and then creates his own architecture and design studio in 1955. The furnitures manufacturer Fritz Hansen launches the first serial production of Panton furnitures, with the Bachelor-Chair. At the end of the 1950s, he works in collaboration with Danish companies like Plus-Linje, Unika Væv and Louis Poulsen. In 1963, he begins his cooperation with Vitra / Herman Miller. In 1967, this editor produces Verner Panton's most iconic chair : the « Panton Chair », the first plastic chair molded in one piece. The designer imagines innovative creations, in bright colors, in new shapes and materials. He develops furnitures, lightings, seats, textiles and interior fittings. He notably produces the famous interior « Visiona » of the Loreley liner, exhibited at the Cologne Furniture Fair in 1970. He receives many awards throughout his career, notably the Danish “Møbelprisen” Prize in 1979, or the German Prize “Deutsche Auswahl” that he get five times. Verner Panton dies at the age of 72. In 2000, the Vitra Design Museum in Germany carries out a retrospective of his works.