Chair Database
Panton Chair
Designed by:
Panton V
Co-Designed by:
–
Designer:
Verner Panton
Co-Designer:
–
Date of Design:
1956-67
Date of Manufacture:
1967
Decade:
1960s
Region:
Scandinavia
Significance:
First cantilevered monobloc?
Manufacturer:
Vitra
Material:
Polyester
Process:
Injection moulded
Monobloc:
Yes
Cantilever:
Yes
Renewable Carbon:
No
Weight:
5.6
Note:
Country of origin: Denmark (designer), Switzerland (manufacturer) Image: Vitra. The S-shaped Panton chair is one of the best known and most loved plastic chairs. Panton worked on the design from at least 1956. By the end of the 1950s Panton had a full-scale model of the stackable chair made from polystyrene foam. To ensure the chair was stackable the thickness of the design had to be minimised without compromising strength. Scandinavian manufacturers were unwilling to take on the challenge but Panton eventually (in 1962) found a backer in Vitra . Five years and ten prototypes later, the Panton chair was finally revealed by the Danish design journal, Mobilia, in August 1967 and caused a sensation. Since 1999, coloured polypropylene has been used, with production continuing ever since.