Dream Lights #Verner Panton

Beyond Verner Panton’s iconic Panton Chair, his designs are essential to the imagery of the late 60s, infused with psychedelia and space travel motifs. But it must be remembered that Panton stood out above all as the creator of complete environments, dreamlike landscapes that envelop and hypnotize their users.

Lighting, therefore, could not be a minor issue in these environments, especially considering that Panton worked early in his career with the great Danish master of lighting Poul Henningsen at the lighting company Louis Poulsen & Co, which would later produce most of Panton’s lamps.

The main focus of my own work is on the overall result. Interaction with the setting is far more important than that with just a chair or any other object; a room, a colour, furniture, textiles and lighting must be considered as a whole. An attractive setting can only be created if all of its components are truly mastered Verner Panton

The Topan lamp, with its spherical shape, was created in polished aluminum for the Cologne Furniture Fair and became the first Panton lamp to be mass-produced. Although its colour version would later become popular. The VP Globe pendant lamp, created for the Visiona II exhibition, is an archetypal product of the space age, an acrylic sphere containing chrome and enamel discs that reflect and direct light.

Lamps such as the Ball Lamp, the Shell Lamp and their subsequent evolution the Spiral Lamp consist of a cluster of pieces that hide and shade the direct source of light inside. These lamps were designed to create sparkling effects adding playful and sensual atmosphere to leisure spaces. Panton would also use the Shell Lamp to create a modern version of the Nasrid muqarnas in his home in Binningen.