Verner Panton: Life and Work - A Photo Exhibition at Bogense Harbour

VERNER PANTON 100 YEARS

From the quiet surroundings of North Funen, one of the 20th century’s most visionary designers emerged. Verner Panton was trained as an architect in the Nordic design tradition of simplicity, craftsmanship, and restraint - yet he looked beyond this tradition, breaking with it through a colorful and sensory approach to design and architecture. Together with Marianne Panton, he challenged the very notion of how we reside, live, and perceive the world around us.

Using light, color, form, and innovative materials, Panton created more than just furniture and spaces; he created experiences. He insisted that our surroundings influence us - our mood, our bodies, and our minds - and he encouraged us to question habits and dare to feel.

This exhibition follows Panton’s journey from North Funen to the international design scene, telling the story of how great ideas can grow out of small places.

CHILDHOOD ON NORTH FUNEN

Verner Panton was born on Western Funen but grew up on North Funen. Initially, the family lived in Hårslev, where his father, Henry Panton, ran Hårslev Inn as the innkeeper. Later, Verner Panton’s father took over the leases of Mørkenborg Inn near Stillebæk and the “Kom Igen” Inn near Langesø.. Panton’s upbringing in these North Funen inns would later play a major role in his work and design approach. Consequently, restaurants and highly expressive interiors with a social focus appear at regular intervals throughout his career.

As the family lived in Hårslev, Verner attended Hårslev School, which at the time was a very small village school. The photograph is from 1936, when Verner Panton was 10 years old. Verner is the one standing in the back row in the doorway. Both the former Hårslev School and Hårslev Inn still exist today, though both now serve as private residences.

ACTIVE IN THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT

The Panton family were active members of the resistance movement. During World War II, Henry Panton (Verner’s father) was the innkeeper of the Mørkenborg Inn, where he occasionally had to serve representatives of the occupying forces.

Curiously, the inn simultaneously served as a meeting place for resistance groups (much like the group at the famous Hvidsten Inn). Had the Nazis discovered this, the inn would undoubtedly have been blown up - but Henry Panton must have judged it a risk worth taking in the service of a good cause.

Like his father and stepmother, Verner Panton was also deeply involved in the resistance movement during World War II. At the beginning of the war, he was merely a teenager and limited to tasks such as distributing leaflets, but he later became active in the Bogense resistance group. In 1944, while Verner was attending Technical School in Odense and living in a rented room there, the Nazis got wind of the fact that he was a weapons courier involved in hiding the resistance movement's arms. The Nazis tore Verner’s room apart and found the evidence - forcing Verner to spend a year in hiding on a farm on North Funen, where an escape route had been prepared should the Nazis suddenly appear.

The room where Verner Panton hid remains almost untouched today, and one can still see his intended escape route: out of the attic window, across the roof of the pigsty, through the hayloft, and down a rope that was always kept ready, allowing him to flee into the nearby woods.

The occupying forces executed weapons couriers, so Verner Panton and his fellow couriers were truly risking their lives. It was therefore necessary to be extremely cautious.

Mørkenborg Inn still exists today and is located on Rugårdsvej near Stillebæk.

On the day following the Liberation in 1945, the entire North Funen resistance movement gathered in front of Bogense Town Hall. An iconic photograph was taken of the occasion, which today is held in the collection of the Museum of Military History Funen in Odense (Denmark). Verner and Henry Panton are outlined in the photograph.

THE "KOM IGEN" INN, NEAR LANGESØ 1958–1984

The extension to the "Kom Igen" Inn (“Come back”) near Langesø opened in 1958 and became a major attraction. It quickly became common knowledge that one should expect traffic chaos in the area when visiting on a Sunday.

Verner Panton’s father, who was the innkeeper, commissioned the extension from his architect son. Today, the extension is regarded as Verner Panton’s first design statement. Here, the outlines of what would later be known as Panton’s "Total Design" began to take shape - and it was for this project that the iconic Cone Chair was specifically designed.

Verner Panton’s extension to the "Kom Igen" Inn was anything but minor. The addition was so large that the inn could easily serve 700–800 guests! Consequently, the extension was several times larger than the "old" inn and stood in stark architectural contrast to the original building.

The design was influenced by international modern architectural trends, utilizing lightweight constructions of wood, glass, and concrete. Geometry played a prominent and highly visible role - and the entire interior was kept in five shades of red, which quickly earned the extension the popular nickname "The Red Ruby”. Not only were the furniture, walls, and lamps designed specifically for this building, but even the waiters' uniforms, tablecloths, napkins, and menus were red, all integrated into the overall aesthetic.

For several generations on North Funen, the "Kom Igen" Inn became the social gathering point for friends, families, and business associates - and memories of "The Red Ruby" still evoke strong emotions in many locals today. In 1984, the extension was demolished, an event considered today to be an architectural and design tragedy.

HEART CONE CHAIR, 1958–1960

“A chair must have four legs”

The first Cone Chairs with red fabric upholstery were designed and produced in a small series specifically for the “Kom Igen” Inn on Funen in 1958. With this chair, Panton turned conventions upside down by creating a construction that was both futuristic and sculptural.

In collaboration with the company “Plus-linje”, which exclusively produced and marketed Panton’s designs, Verner Panton continued to develop the idea into an entire furniture series. This included the “Heart Cone Chair”, which today is considered one of Panton's greatest classics.

When the first Heart Cone Chairs were displayed in a shop window in New York, their striking and innovative design caused traffic chaos. The police eventually had to intervene and requested that they be removed.

ASTORIA, TRONDHEIM 1960

With his interior for the Astoria in Trondheim, Verner Panton continued to develop his “Total Design” concept. Once again, he was responsible for the design of all textiles, furniture, and lamps, involving every surface of the room to create one cohesive whole.

The image shows the interior of the restaurant featuring Panton’s Cone Chairs, Topan lamps, and walls and floors covered in various versions of Panton’s textile design, “Geometry”.

“I truly have the sense that this is the first solution to the great question that has plagued us since functionalism had its major breakthrough: How do we make a restaurant a pleasant place for the guests?”

Poul Henningsen, designer and critic, LP-Nyt DK 1961

THE CEILING AS A STAGE

In 1959, Verner Panton was commissioned to design the craft exhibition at the popular Danish trade fair “Købestævnet” in Fredericia. Panton surprised both his client and the public by suspending the exhibition from the ceiling. His argument was that this would make the objects visible to everyone, even when the room was crowded with people.

The image shows a section of the exhibition featuring Panton’s Cone Chairs, as well as furniture by Børge Mogensen and Poul Volther, mounted on the ceiling as instructed by Panton. The exhibition received widespread attention, including in the international press, and his friend Poul Henningsen, the designer and critic, remarked that they should also have advertised the glue used to secure the items to the ceiling.

BAYER’S DRALON SHIP (VISIONA 0), COLOGNE 1968

In connection with the annual trade fair in Cologne, Panton was invited by the German company “Bayer” to create an exhibition to promote a new synthetic material called Dralon.

The exhibition was set up on a boat moored at the quay, not far from the exhibition centre. Here, Panton presented his own textile designs, as well as furniture and lamps, in small monochromatic rooms, allowing visitors to experience how color and light affect the atmosphere.

Verner Panton designed the “Anatomica” textile specifically for this exhibition. It is Marianne Panton’s eye and lips that are printed on the fabric. Other prints featured Marianne’s feet and Verner’s hand and ears. Panton also demonstrated several other innovative ways to utilize the textiles.

SPIEGEL HEADQUARTERS, HAMBURG 1969

In 1969, Panton created one of his most famous interior design projects: the furnishing of the Spiegel publishing house's headquarters in Hamburg.

Inside a rather somber, modern, gray concrete office building, he created a series of colorful, vibrant rooms that provided both employees and visitors with an unforgettable experience.

Shown here is the swimming pool in the basement, which quickly became famous far beyond the borders of Hamburg.

The Spiegel employees loved the interior so much that most of it remained unchanged for decades, and the canteen stayed intact until the publisher had to move into a new building. There, they created a new Panton Lounge as a tribute to their former domicile.

The original canteen was moved in its entirety and is now located at the MK&G museum in Hamburg, where part of the interior can still be visited today.

FANTASY LANDSCAPE, VISIONA II, 1970

In 1970, Panton returned as a visionary designer for Bayer with the exhibition “Visiona II,” and his installation “Fantasy Landscape” became the undisputed centerpiece of the show. This utopian furniture landscape - a vibrant living space in organic shapes - attracted immense attention, far beyond the world of design.

The entire Visiona II exhibition bore witness to Panton's creative originality and is considered one of the highlights of his career. From a design history perspective, “Fantasy Landscape” is still regarded as one of the most significant spatial installations of the 20th century.

“The main purpose of my work is to provoke people into using their imagination.” Verner Panton

A WORLD-FAMOUS ICON: THE PANTON CHAIR, 1958/1967

“You sit better on a color you like” Verner Panton

With the Panton Chair, Verner Panton wrote design history. The Panton Chair was the world’s first cantilever chair created in one single piece of polymer, and today it is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of modern design. The chair is such a vital part of Denmark’s cultural heritage that in 2006, it was included in the Danish Culture Canon.

Verner Panton dreamed of creating a chair where the back, seat, and base merged into a single, durable form. His first major step was the “S Chair” for Thonet in 1956, which was crafted from molded plywood.

In 1958, Panton had his friend Sven Hassel at Dansk Akrylteknik (Danish Acrylic Technology) create the first model, but he lacked a manufacturer willing to take a chance on polymer at a time when everything revolved around wood. Fortunately, he met Willi and Rolf Fehlbaum from the furniture manufacturer Vitra. 

The Fehlbaums were fascinated by the legless chair, and together they spent the next many years experimenting with materials. 

After many attempts, the chair entered production in 1967. To this day, the Panton Chair Classic is still produced in rigid polyurethane foam, finished by hand. Since 1999, the chair has also been available in a newer, stackable version made of polypropylene, which Panton was involved in developing until his death in September 1998.

SUMMER HOUSE IN HORNBÆK, 1972–1993

In 1972, Verner and Marianne Panton bought a summer house in Hornbæk. They had attended a party in the area and had fallen completely in love with the view from the garden, but in the dark, they hadn’t paid much attention to the house itself.

After purchasing the property, Panton saw it for the first time in daylight. He found it so ugly that he declared there were only two options: either sell it again or do something fun with it.

And that is exactly what he did. He had the facade painted in a vibrant grass-green color, and the window frames were all painted in the same colors as the rooms behind them.

Naturally, the neighbors were not exactly thrilled with this exotic appearance, and the local homeowners' association wanted to lodge an official protest - but in the end, no one signed it. 

Later, Panton had the house painted sky-blue, and the family spent many of their holidays there.

RESTAURANT VARNA, AARHUS, 1971

In 1971, Verner Panton designed the interior for the Varna Restaurant in Aarhus.

Panton highlighted the restaurant's unique spatial layout by applying a specific color scheme to each section and room. He used orange and red for the circular corner rooms and purple as the primary color for the central part of the restaurant. The ceiling was decorated with a large, undulating installation of colorful spheres that mirrored the colors of the carpet’s circular pattern, serving both a decorative and acoustic function.

A restaurant critic claimed that even though the food was mediocre, visiting the restaurant was still “a must” because of the interior design.

PANTON PASSAGE, BASEL, 1978

In 1977, Verner Panton was commissioned to transform a gloomy, windowless, and somewhat eerie underground corridor at the University Hospital in Basel. Solely by applying his characteristic colors and patterns to the ceiling and walls, he created a work of art - a bright and welcoming passage that impressed with its simplicity and freshness. Unfortunately, it was not technically possible to include the floor, as Panton had originally planned.

In 2021, it was unfortunately decided that the passage should be demolished due to a major renovation of the hospital. This sparked a debate in the local press, as many considered the project to be worthy of preservation.

PANTON PASSAGE, BASEL, 2024

When it in 2021 was decided that Panton’s passage from 1978 was to be demolished due to a major renovation, it sparked such a significant debate that the University Hospital decided to have the project reconstructed elsewhere on the hospital grounds.

The new 2024 passage is somewhat shorter than the original, and a few sections have therefore been omitted. However, every effort was made to remain as faithful to the original as possible, with both colors and patterns recreated according to Panton’s original drawings and specifications. 

In the new Panton Passage, the floor was also included in the design, just as Panton had originally intended. This had not been technically possible in 1978.

TRAPHOLT: LYSET OG FARVEN (”LIGHT AND COLOR”), 1998/2021

In 1998, Verner Panton created a major exhibition of his works in collaboration with the Trapholt Museum in Kolding (Denmark). The installation “Light and Colour” was created specifically for a series of the museum's rooms. Sadly, this became the last exhibition that Verner Panton designed and curated himself. Like his earlier works, the exhibition was colorful and imaginative, and it became a great success. 

Unfortunately, Panton never lived to experience this, as he passed away just ten days before the opening.

In 2021, Trapholt, together with Verner Panton Design AG, decided to bring Panton’s last installation back to Trapholt as part of a major retrospective exhibition - once again, it was a massive success.

CENTRE POMPIDOU - ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION

It is less known that throughout his career, Verner Panton occasionally developed architectural projects. Of all these, his competition entry for the new Centre Pompidou in Paris was undoubtedly one of the greatest disappointments of his career.

Panton and his studio worked day and night on the proposal, which was dispatched on time and in full accordance with the competition regulations. However, due to a strike in the French postal service, the project never reached Paris - it vanished without a trace along with several other submitted proposals. 

Despite official complaints - including from the UIA (International Union of Architects) - nothing could be done.

Who knows what would have happened if the project had arrived...

CIRKUSBYGNINGEN (THE CIRCUS BUILDING), 1984

In the early 1980s, Verner Panton was asked to redesign the interior of the famous Circus Building in Copenhagen. His role was that of interior architect as well as color and lighting designer.

His imaginative and colorful design, which encompassed all public facilities, was intended to give guests an extraordinary experience from the moment they stepped through the door, all the way to the impressive space of the Grand Hall under the dome. Panton further designed a special light show that was presented just before the performance began.

The image shows Panton’s original interior of the Grand Hall with the large arena. Panton’s colorful chairs made the rows of seating appear like a meadow full of flowers, which remained visually interesting even when the hall was not entirely full.

Today, unfortunately, only his design for the dome remains in its original form.

CIRKUSBYGNINGEN (THE CIRCUS BUILDING), 2025

In the autumn of 2025, the Circus Building opened its doors to a newly restored house, where all public facilities - with the exception of the Grand Hall - have been revitalized in close collaboration with Verner Panton Design AG.

After years of neglect, Panton’s festive color and lighting schemes for the green vestibule and the three foyers (in red, orange, and purple, respectively) have been recreated. The result is just as festive and colorful as Panton originally intended.

Panton’s original 1984 interior is part of the building's heritage protection status, and the color and lighting schemes have been re-established strictly according to Panton’s original drawings and specifications.

PANTON’S PRIVATE HOME, BINNINGEN, 1972–1987

Verner Panton’s private home naturally also reflected his love of color. The image shows Verner and Marianne Panton in Panton’s colorful yet harmonious interior, which is classic Panton, featuring furniture of his own design - Panton Chairs, Sitting Wheel, Sitting Stairs, as well as Mirror Sculptures on the walls.

Some designs that were once in the Panton family's private home have even ended up in museums. The famous dining room ceiling, which Panton worked on from 1972 to 1987 - consisting of thousands of seashells - can be seen today in the restaurant at the “Kunsthalle” in Basel.

Another example is the seating furniture “Living Sculpture” (from 1972), which for several years was part of the furnishings in the family's living room in Binningen. When the family sold the house, Centre Pompidou acquired the work, and it has since then been part of the museum's permanent collection.

PANTON AND LIGHT

Verner Panton viewed light as more than just illumination – he often used his lamps to evoke a certain mood, and created numerous, highly diverse designs. The image shows just a small selection of them.

The Flowerpot pendant from 1968 is simple and playful, with its two interlocking hemispheres providing a soft, pleasant light while maintaining a sense of playful simplicity. The VP Globe lamp from 1969/70 is transparent and futuristic – floating in the air almost like a soap bubble. Here, the interior of the lamp is visible, but the light source itself is hidden, as the light is reflected and distributed with great precision. With Panthella from 1971, Panton created a lamp that is both functional and sculptural – the reflective properties of the shade and the curved forms of the base create a warm, soft light, making it ideal for both private and public spaces.

Common to all of Panton’s lamps is that there is no direct view of the light source - Panton was deeply committed to ensuring the light was warm and never glaring.

Together, these lamps demonstrate Panton’s ability to unite form, color, and light into timeless design icons.

PANTON SCHOOL FURNITURE

Did you know that you might have spent your school years sitting on a chair designed by Verner Panton?

Although Verner Panton is perhaps best known for his colorful and groundbreaking designs, he was also deeply committed to comfort and ergonomics. He hated the idea of being locked into a single, static position.

The original idea for an ergonomic chair arose during a discussion Panton had regarding dynamic seating positions with the orthopedic specialist Prof. Erwin Morscher from Basel, and later with Prof. Thomas Müller, the director and owner of VS. 

Panton further developed the concept in collaboration with the German furniture company VS. The idea was to create a series of chairs that allowed for various ways of sitting.

The PantoFlex chair series was originally intended for office use, but thanks to its exceptional ergonomic qualities, an adapted version called PantoSwing was marketed for use in schools.

Today, the PantoSwing has long since established itself as an ergonomic school chair for dynamic seating. The chair is available in four different sizes to accommodate students of all ages, from the smallest to the tallest. 

Panton school chairs have won several awards and certificates for ergonomics, safety, and sustainability.