Long before the ghost chair, there was the Panton Chair — the very first chair ever to be made from a single, continuous piece of material. That means that every plastic chair that has come along since then — from the lovely Ghost to the lowly Monobloc — owes a little something to Verner Panton, the Danish designer who created the chair and pioneered the technique for its construction. Since its introduction in 1967, the chair has been in continuous production. Over the years, four different versions of the chair have been produced from four different kinds of plastic. Originally made in fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin, which was then painted in various colors, the chair is now made from colored polypropylene. (The so-called 'third series' of the chair, made from painted rigid polyurethane foam, is still available, marketed as the "Panton Chair Classic".) It's available in a myriad of colors, including the limited-edition pink and light blue. I was introduced to the Panton chair at a tender age — I have fond memories of sitting in one of these in the shag-carpeted sunken reading pit at the Lafayette public library circa 1985.
While the Panton chair, on its own, may conjure up images of a bizarre, space-agey 60s modernism, it's also a tremendously versatile design, equally at home on a balcony in Sydney, in a modern dining room, or even in the nave of an old Bohemian church.Rustic fireplace, sleek chairs… a beautiful contrast. From The Design Files. 2. An orange Panton chair strikes just the right note in an eclectic interior from The Selby.3. On the balcony of Sam's Sydney apartment. 4. A white Panton chair adds just a touch of the modern to a tailored interior from Desire to Inspire. 5. In black in a dramatic Melbourne kitchen, from House to Home.In a luxurious living room from Interiors Digital. 7. Orange, to match the artwork, in Gene & Heidi's Colorful Art-Filled Home. 8. A Panton chair is lovely paired with a traditional desk. 9. Perfect with a rustic table in Lyndsay and Fitzhugh's Summer Cottage in the City. 10. Panton chairs in a baroque church — the ultimate mix of old and new. MORE PANTON CHAIR INSPIRATION FROM APARTMENT THERAPY:• Panton Chairs as Desk Chairs• 20 Ways to Change a Classic Vitra Panton Chair
VitraPanton Chair ClassicInformationProducts of the familyDesigner Panton Chair ClassicVerner Panton, 1959/1960Verner Panton was one of the most influential figures in the development of design during the 1960s and 1970s. Along with his experimental approach to forms and colours, he was captivated by the potential of plastic, a novel material at the time. His aim was to create a comfortable chair made in one piece that could be used anywhere. After searching for a manufacturer for several years, Panton came into contact with Vitra in 1963. Together they developed the Panton Chair, which was first presented in 1967.Serial production of the Panton Chair commenced in 1967. It was hailed as a sensation and received numerous prizes. One of the earliest models is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Today the Panton Chair is regarded as a classic of modern furniture design. The original version of the chair in rigid polyurethane foam with a glossy lacquer finish is marketed under the name Panton Chair Classic.3)Shell: rigid polyurethane foam.
Surface: glossy lacquer finish. The Panton Chair (Danish: Pantonstolen) is an S-shaped plastic chair created by the Danish designer Verner Panton in the 1960s. The world's first moulded plastic chair, it is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Danish design. The chair was included in the 2006 Danish Culture Canon. The idea of designing a stackable plastic chair was first expressed by the German architect and designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe before the Second World War. From the early 1950s, Panton too had dreamt of making a stackable, cantilevered plastic chair all in one piece. It is said he had been inspired in particular by a neatly stacked pile of plastic buckets. In 1956, he designed the S Chair which can be considered a forerunner of the Panton Chair. He saw it as an item of furniture in which the back, seat and legs were made of the continuous piece. It was first produced in 1965. Panton made a series of sketches and design drawings for the Panton Chair in the 1950s.
In 1960, he created his first model, a plaster-cast, in collaboration with Dansk Akrylteknik.[2] In the mid-1960s, he met Willi Fehlbaum from the furniture manufacturer Vitra who, unlike many other producers, was fascinated with the drawings of his legless chair in plastic rather than wood, the favoured material of the times. Working closely with Fehlbaum, Panton produced a cold-pressed model using polyester strengthened with fibreglass. For the first time, an entire chair had been designed in one piece, without any legs. It became known as a free-swinger. The first rather heavy model, which required substantial finishing work, was subsequently improved and adapted to industrial production using thermoplastic polystyrene which led to a marked reduction in cost.[4] In 1968, Vitra initiated serial production of the final version which was sold by the Herman Miller Furniture Company. The material used was Baydur, a high-resilience polyurethane foam produced by Bayer in Leverkusen, Germany.
It was varnished in seven colors. In 1979, however, production was halted as it became apparent that polystyrene was not sufficiently durable and began to look shabby over time. Four years later, the model was again produced as the Panton Chair Classic, this time in the rather more expensive polyurethane structural foam. Finally, in 1999, Vitra used polypropylene for manufacturing the Panton Plastic Chair in a variety of colours. Panton was a contributor to the development of sleek new styles reflecting the "Space Age" of the 1960s which became known as Pop Art. The Panton Chair in particular was seen as being sleek and curvaceous. When it was unveiled in the Danish design journal Mobilia in 1967, it caused a sensation. In 1970, it was featured in the British fashion magazine Nova with a sequence of shots illustrating "How to undress in front of your husband".[6] Perhaps the chair's most famous appearance was in January 1995, when it was featured on the cover of the British edition of Vogue.
The photograph by Nick Knight also included a naked Kate Moss. Over the years, the Panton Chair, initially known as Panton's S Chair, has been widely exhibited in Denmark and abroad. It currently forms part of the permanent collections some of the world's most famous design museums including, New York's Museum of Modern Art, London's Design Museum, Berlin's German Historical Museum and Copenhagen's Danish Museum of Art & Design.Retrieved 5 February 2013. ^ a b "Verner Panton: Panton-stolen, 1960", Skoletjenesen. ^ "A Century of Chairs", Design Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2013. ^ a b Vivi Sjøner, "Panton Chair – verdens første", Jyllands-Posten, 8 June 2011. ^ Kate Watson-Smyth, "The Secret History Of: The Verner Panton S Chair", The Independent, 22 October 2010. ^ Michael Johnson, "Verner Panton: Genius of Danish Design Part 2", Knoji Consumer Knowledge. ^ Stacey Cosens, "Verner Panton is considered to be one of Denmark’s most influential furniture designers, creating fun, innovative and futuristic pieces", Vintage Seekers.