Cone Chair

After exploring Europe in a VW bus-turned-mobile-office, Danish designer Verner Panton launched his independent (and stationary) architecture and design studio in 1955. The boldly geometric forms of his debut encouraged a proliferation of furnishing and lighting designs. Panton’s love of intense color and compelling patterns also defined his extensive line of textiles. He is perhaps best known for his gesamtkunstwerk interiors where furniture, lighting, textiles, and wall decorations were designed as a comprehensive whole. Examples include the Cologne Furniture Fair (1968 and 1970) and the Spiegel publishing headquarters in Hamburg (1969). Panton's collaboration with Vitra produced his best-known design, the Panton Chair, introduced in 1967. The chair was Vitra’s first independently developed design and is included in the Museum of Modern Art’s collection, along with three other examples of Panton’s work.