50 years of the Panthella lamp

4 March 2021

Daughter of Scandinavian modernism, the Panthella lamp represents the evolution of this style and was in fact designed in 1971 by Verner Panton, a designer who made formal and material experimentation his distinctive trait, significantly influencing the design of the 70s. Think of the Panton Chair, the sinuous chair he designed – and today produced by Vitra – unique in its kind and forerunner of the use of plastic materials in high-level design. The visionary nature, therefore, of Verner Panton, is also manifested in the Panthella and the result is a lamp that today, 50 years after its design, remains one of the most successful and versatile choices in the context of domestic and contract lighting. Elegant but informal, chameleonic, thanks also to the different finishes available and to the formats: table (also mini and portable) and floor.

The plastic base of the lamp is circular and narrows upwards to become a painted steel stem. The final part of which is again made of plastic. The internal screen is in acrylic of different colors depending on the finishes. This juxtaposition of materials tells the intention with which Panton carried out his research in the field with the aim of bringing technical and formal innovations that nevertheless made the objects accessible to a wide audience. He was not satisfied with creating a beautiful and functional product, his goal was to find the best solution for as many people as possible. In a perfect balance between mass product and exclusive product.

From an exquisitely formal point of view, the Panthella shows itself as an essential but sinuous graphic line, a sculpture in balance between delicacy and stability, a stylized flower, a sculpture with familiar features. It contains slight art deco references, but in its modernity it tells the influence that Paul Henningsen had on Verner Panton, designer of the previous generation and another great innovator in the field of lighting from which Panton learns the importance of managing not only the light but also shadows as well as the relationship between light and color and between light and materials.

For all these reasons Louis Poulsen celebrates the fifty years of this authentic icon with a new version: the Panthella Table 320 which, together with the Panthella Mini, will be available in a new metallic brass finish. The Panthella Table 320 is therefore added to the Mini and the Panthella Table 400: overall three dimensions in order to identify the most suitable solution for each space. In addition to the new dimension, there is also the new mirror metallic brass finish that has the ability to reflect the surrounding environment by creating plays of reflections and light. In the metal version, the interior is white to reflect light as much as possible; in the opal white version, the interior is translucent. Therefore, Verner Panton’s intuition of not neglecting any element and of managing every aspect of the relationship between lamp, user and context is back.

The possible uses of this lamp are so many: the new table version is perfect on a console, the Mini works both on a desk and at the center of the table in the rechargeable version and again, the floor version is perfect in any room of the house. These are just the most immediate examples of how to interpret the Panthella, a lamp that over time will find space in different corners of the house to reinvent it and reinvent itself, as only an authentic icon can do.

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