Celebrating the 100th anniversary of architect and designer Verner Panton, Louis Poulsen met the daughter Carin Panton for a talk on her father’s iconic legacy, his design approach, and his close friendship with Poul Henningsen, as well as the making of the Panthella together with Louis Poulsen.
For my father, light was always part of his creative universe. He knew that the interplay of form, colour and light determines how spaces and objects appear. He did not approach his work with the intention of designing something which was deliberately timeless.
He was above all an imaginative and curious spirit, deeply fascinated with form, patterns and colours. And that was his creative language. He never followed any trends. He had his own unique style.
My father met Poul Henningsen and Arne Jacobsen when he was an architecture student. Arne Jacobsen and Poul Henningsen were already established names when Verner started his career. They became my father’s mentors. And later their relationship developed into a mutually respectful one. And especially Poul Henningsen recognized my father’s talent.
My father always spoke very fondly of Poul Henningsen. They had a lot of fun together as friends, but he certainly also challenged my father in many ways.
When he was a student, he learned from Poul Henningsen how a light fixture should never be glaring; and one should not be able to look directly at the light source. And it fitted very well into his own design philosophy.
The friendship with Poul Henningsen may very well have sparked my father’s imagination. They were always having long and lively discussions. Their design languages were of course very different so you cannot really speak of competition. Their designs also spoke to different audiences.
Today it’s easy to see how the Panthella doesn’t belong to a specific style, rather it exists in its own. It has this pureness about it.
Back in the 1970’s, it may have been the novelty and freshness of the design that spoke to people. The beauty in its elegant lines, the pure geometrical form, and the soft light from the translucent shade. Over time this has made the Panthella a classic, which people continue to love. It is also just very recognizable.
So I’m very happy that together with Louis Poulsen we have brought back the Originals in celebration of my father’s 100th birthday.
Verner Panton was a master of conceptualising and storytelling and often did his own advertising using family and friends as models – as seen on the original ad for his Panthella Floor from the 1970s. Staring a close friend, the simple composition against the subtle colour contrasts of the dark hair and the orange is a perfect example of Panton’s intuitive playfulness.
