Verner Panton caused a sensation with his pioneering approach to furniture and lighting design. For our mid-century modern series, we profile the Danish designer whose colourful pieces and interiors define an era.
With their vibrant colours and undulating shapes, Verner Panton's Heart Cone and Panton chairs are among the most iconic design pieces to come out of the 1950s and '60s.
Verner Panton, who also created architecture and interiors, had a unique design language and commitment to industrial manufacture that made him stand out from the other designers of the time.
Verner Panton created many of the most famous mid-century modern pieces. Photo of Verner Panton courtesy of Verner Panton Design AG
"Panton deliberately pursued projects using plastic, plexiglass, steel and foam rubber, with bold, vibrant colours," author and Royal Danish Academy professor Ida Engholm told Dezeen. "And whereas his design colleagues in Denmark were dedicated to cultivating traditional craftsmanship, Panton was committed to creating products that were 100 per cent industrially manufactured, ready to go straight from the mould to the international mass market."
Though he's best known for designs that were more vivid and experimental than much of the streamlined wooden furniture of the time, Verner Panton began his career by working with some of Denmark's most established design names.
Born in Brahesborg-Gamtofte in Denmark in 1926, he studied at the Technical University of Od...