The overall approach of this book is a broad historical framing of
Verner Panton’s work, which takes its point of departure in theoretical
and historical ways of articulating various issues – condensed, in the
present book, into the themes of environments, colours, systems and
patterns. The treatment of Panton’s work reflects a desire not only to
trace his wide-ranging output, with its distinctive historical and
work-characteristic features but also to arrive at a structural understanding
of problems in his work to enable a contemporary and relevant
interpretation, in part by involving aspects such as Panton’s
creativity.
We regard this book as a contribution to the continuous self-critical
reflection that has been characteristic of practitioners and theorists of
modern design since the late 1800s, and which plays an important
role today in so-called design thinking. To paraphrase the French philosopher
Gilles Deleuze, this book essentially aims at “creating a problem”
that renders Panton relevant to contemporary design. The basis
of this problem is design after the Second World War.
A central point in this book is that Panton’s work over time is engaged
in close dialogue with crucial cultural and philosophical insights in the
years following the Second World War, and also that he was a “trailblazer”,
not only within the field of professional design but also in a
broader historical sense. It seems clear to us that his work – under the
conditions for creative expression that characterised the time from the
1950s to the 1990s – continues to offer relevant inspiration for currentday
themes within design research as well as for the professional and
creative contexts that form the settings for young contemporary
designers.