Celebrating the 100th birthday of a radical visionary
Verner Panton would have turned 100 in 2026. Few designers of the 20th century pushed the boundaries of form, colour and material as consistently as he did. His designs stand for new beginnings, experimentation and a radically new concept of living. In his collaboration with Thonet, Panton's visionary design vision met the industrial precision and innovative strength of one of the world's most traditional furniture manufacturers.
Verner Panton (1926–1998) never understood design as mere form-giving. For him, it was a holistic experience. Spaces should trigger emotions, furniture should not be conformist but challenging. While many of his post-war modernist contemporaries favoured restraint, Panton worked with bright colours, organic shapes and new materials such as plastic and foam.
His goal was clear: design should change lives, not just beautify them.
The fact that such a radical designer as Panton collaborated with a company like Thonet was not a contradiction – but rather an ideal complement. Thonet had already made design history in the 19th century with bentwood and industrial series production. This openness to technological innovation continued into the 20th century.
For Panton, Thonet offered the opportunity to realise his ideas not only as prototypes or visions, but as market-ready products.
As early as the mid-1950s, Verner Panton began experimenting with the idea of cantilevered seating for Thonet. The S Chair 275, designed in 1956 and later put into series production, clearly illustrates this early approach. Made of laminated beech wood, it combines the tradition of bent wood with a flowing, sculptural form. The chair appears to be made from a single mould – a formal anticipation of what Panton would later achieve with plastic.
Panton took this idea further with the 270 F armchair. Here, too, the focus is on organic lines, combined with clear, almost graphic colours. The different variants and seat heights demonstrate Panton's interest in modular systems and furniture that can be adapted to different situations.
At the same time, he designed several fully upholstered armchairs for Thonet, including the S 401 and S 420. These designs illustrate another facet of Panton's work: his play with comfort, posture and spatial effect. Resting on tubular steel constructions, the armchairs appear light and almost floating despite their upholstery. The further developments of the S 420 in particular – from the two-seater to the so-called ‘engagement sofa’ or the cubic four-seater – demonstrate Panton's understanding of furniture as part of expansive living landscapes.
The overall picture clearly shows that Panton's designs for Thonet are not one-offs, but part of a consistent search for new forms of seating. They combine traditional craftsmanship, industrial innovation and a radical approach to design that continues to have an impact today.
What set Panton apart from many other designers was his uncompromising use of colour. For him, colour had a psychological, almost social dimension. In combination with furniture from Thonet, he created interiors that were not decorative but immersive – spaces you could dive into.
Especially at a time when living spaces often appear neutral and minimalist again, Panton's approach seems astonishingly relevant.
On the occasion of his 100th birthday, it is worth taking a look back – and forward. Panton's designs are now displayed in museums, collected, referenced and reinterpreted. At the same time, they continue to raise questions:
How bold can design be?
What role do emotion, colour and experimentation play in a functional world?
The collaboration with Thonet shows that innovation and tradition are not opposites, but can be mutually beneficial.
Verner Panton not only shaped design – he provoked it. His work reminds us that design can be more than just a response to need: it can be a cultural impulse.
On his 100th birthday, we celebrate not only a designer, but an attitude: the courage to think differently.