Why we need Verner Panton more than ever
Could the designs of Verner Panton provide an antidote to the current global crisis? The 1970s called: they seem to think so.
War, inflation, supply chain disruptions and energy shortages — an unfortunate ensemble of headlines that have come to define our times. And while the current crop of overlapping crisis may seem pretty novel for most of us, this isn’t the first time we find ourselves in the midst of such crisis. Take the war torn, inflation ridden years of the early 1970’s, for example, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that history does, in fact, seem to repeat itself.
Ironically, during the somewhat dreary socio-political landscape of the early 1970’s, the prevalence of vibrant colours, funky shapes and unorthodox materials came to dominate interior design. In short, while the world outside was burning, behind closed doors, people found refuge in the escapism of increasingly experimental interior design.
While many designers had a hand in shaping the aesthetic of the 1970s, it could be argued that the efforts of one designer in particular succeeded in spearheading this escapist push in interior design more than any other during the period. Yep, you guessed it, it was Verner Panton.
Although Danish, Panton rejected the clean cut international minimalism of his fellow countrymen (and former collaborators) such as Arne Jacobsen and delved deeply into his own world, designing with an extravagant — and sometimes simply out of this world — mix of colour, form and material.
By 1970, Panton had already racked up a menagerie of products for numerous furniture and lighting brands such as Vitra and Louis Poulsen — many of which are still in production today. During the decade, however, collaborations with countless other manufacturers, including a range of fabrics and carpets with textile manufacturer Mira-X, served to widen his own personal design philosophy, in which his interiors became immersive environments of colour, form, material and ambient lighting.
Because Panton was so keen to stress the importance of fantasy and imagination in his work, it’s perhaps understandable that some people (specifically fans of mid-century modernism) were quick to label him as an upstart, a fact which garnered Panton the label Enfant terrible of Danish Design.
To others, however, Panton was a visionary, a total space explorer. By proxy, in owning a Panton-designed piece of furniture or a luminaire, you could sign yourself up for a bit of space tourism too.
Panton’s fantasy seating landscape for the Visona II installation at the Cologne furniture fair in 1970 is perhaps the ultimate demonstration of his unique brand of space tourism. Widely regarded as one of the milestones of 20th Century design, the undulating waves and organic forms of Panton’s installation demonstrated his ability to create previously unimaginable spatial settings with organic forms — a look which would be widely referenced by designers for the rest of the decade.
And while the popularity of Panton during the crisis-ridden 1970s could be put down to be something of a happy coincidence, the current renaissance of colour and funky forms in interior design appears to have collided once again with the onslaught of our very own crisis ridden times. It seems, then, that history does indeed have a habit of repeating itself.
If the clean cut, minimal Danish aesthetic can be credited with shaping the general aesthetic of the early 2000s, it’s looking like the post-pandemic malaise of the 2020s could well be characterised by a less neutral, more exuberant design language. Surely a development which will only serve to heighten the relevance of Verner Panton’s designs in the months and years to come?
Panton once said that “A failed experiment can be more important than a trivial design”. Fortunately for us, there is no such thing as a failed Panton experiment, for all of his products have value — even the most experimental ones.
Through experimentation with light, colour, material and form, Panton’s designs still ooze contemporary zeitgeist. In addition to appealing to our creative side, they often transcend the idea of rationality. For this reason, they will surely continue to provide a welcome respite from the sobering realities of the outside world, just as they did in the 1970s.
In light of state of the world right now, we don’t need any more ‘trivial’ design. To make our surroundings that little bit more exciting, we need more Panton.
