A Major Look at a Modern Danish Designer

NEW YORK CITY

:Through October 1 the AXA Gallery, in cooperation with the Vitra Design Museum, will present a major exhibition on the work of Danish designer and architect Verner Panton (1926-1998).

True to the character of its featured designer, the exhibition creates a highly sensory atmosphere, presenting Panton's boldly patterned fabric designs, futuristic furniture, colorful light fixtures and trademark molded plastic chairs. The Vitra Design Museum has assembled this large-scale retrospective as a compliment to Verner Panton's extraordinary extensive and diverse body of work.

It is hard to distinguish which is the 1960s design icon - the classic single piece molded plastic chair or Panton himself. Verner Panton's many inventions - flowerpot lamps, multileveled living towers, and inflatable furniture - can be seen individually as historic advances in interior design, but collectively they reveal a greater vision.

Panton's interests were not limited to the design of single objects, but extended to the development of entire spaces. The artist said of his work, "I can't bear to enter a room and see the sofa and coffee table and two armchairs, immediately knowing that we are going to be stuck there for an entire evening. I made furniture that could be raised and lowered in space so that one could have a different view of the surrounding and a new angle on life."

"Verner Panton - The Collected Works" was curated and organized by the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rein, Germany.

As a child, Vernon Panton longed to become a painter, but showing little talent for the subject he chose to study architecture. Since schools of design as known today did not exist at the time, it was not unusual for artists in Panton's generation to become designers via architectural training.

Panton would later combine his passions for art and function, experimenting with both form and color, to become one of the greatest innovators in modern design.

The young architect had two encounters that probably had the most influence on his professional development and thus his career path.

While studying at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen in the late 1940s, Panton met Poul Henningsen, known internationally for his designs in lighting. Henningsen soon began to mentor Panton in Scandinavian tradition, an influence that can be clearly seen in Panton's own lighting fixtures. Among many things, Henningsen taught Panton a systematic approach to solving design problems, an openness to technical innovations and a broader conception of functionality.

Panton met his second great influence in 1950 when he began working for Arne Jacob-sen. At the time Jacobsen, who was regarded as Denmark's leading architect and designer, was working on one of his most famous designs - the Ant chair. Working for Jacobsen, Panton gained experience handling new materials, and searching for an appropriate production technology. Indeed, Panton remarked of his time with Jacobsen that he head "learned more from him than from anyone else."

Traditional Scandinavian style that Panton was trained in was strongly characterized by handicraft traditions in its choice of materials and production methods. But many designers whom Panton encountered on his travels were challenging this norm by working with newly developed materials, and using new industrial production techniques.

Panton's affection for new production materials and his quest to rethink traditional design standards can be best seen in his most famous piece: the Panton Chair. This chair, manufactured by Vitra and unveiled to the world in 1967, immediately marked its place in the history of design by becoming the first chair to be made in one piece, entirely from synthetic material.

It was a furniture designer's dream - a completed chair that was literally one piece. The new simplified production method was cost effective; a chair that could be taken as one part directly from the mold would eliminate the assembly process.

Not only did the chair set a new standard for what was technically achievable (the chair was also stackable), it defined a new era of design. Departing completely from the Danish craft tradition and strict functionalism of his predecessors, with this chair Panton now belonged to a distinctly international design community.

The AXA Gallery is in the atrium lobby of Equitable Tower, 787 Seventh Avenue at 51st Street. Hours are Monday through Friday, 11 am to 6 pm, noon to 5 pm, closed on Sundays. Admission is free. For information, 212-554-2015 or axa-financial.com.