project 1: furniture design history

photo essay:

sketches:

exploded perspective drawing:

 contextual essay:

Panton chair

"Most people spend their lives living in dreary, beige conformity, mortally afraid of using color. The main purpose of my work is to provoke people into using their imagination and make their surroundings more exciting." - Verner Panton.

Verner Panton is considered one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. His works were innovative and futuristic and in a variety of materials, especially plastics, and in vibrant and exotic colours. He was a master of the fluid, futuristic style of 1960s design which introduced the pop aesthetic to furniture and interiors. His most famous designs include the Panton chair and the flying chairs both designed in 1960s.

The Panton chair has won various design awards world-wide. Its expressive shape and the breakthrough use of material and process make it a true 20^th century design icon. The Panton chair is the very first ever to be constructed from one continuous piece of plastic using injection molding. It uses tough and flexible fiberglass reinforced polypropylene dyed through and also contains additional additives to prevent early fading of colours. The chair offers great seating comfort thanks to the cantilever base, together with its ergonomically designed shape. Supporting ribs are also added to the connection edge between the base and seat, ensuring a sturdy structure of the chair.

There are a few tags to the 1960s like “plastic and PVC, disposable, multi-purpose furniture, low-level, revivalist, fun, witty”. It was also known as the start of the human space era. Verner Panton’s multi-purpose furniture in molded plastic was a famous design icon of that decade, combining pop aesthetic, futuristic style and new material process into furniture design.

Reference:
hive,panton chair,viewed 15th August 2011
http://hivemodern.com/pages/products.php?sid=226