All Photos By Gail

In Verner Panton’s Notes on Color, the Danish designer stated:

“In Kindergarten, one learns to love and use colors. Later on, at school and in life, one learns something called taste. For most people, this means limiting their use of colors.”

The design career of Verner Panton (1926 – 1998) reached its first peak toward the end of the 1950s. With a furniture series based on simple geometric shapes, Panton anticipated elements of Pop Art, while also emulating the elegance of Scandinavian Modernism in the execution of the bases.

The most famous designs from this series are the Cone Chair and the Heart Cone Chair (1959). The Heart Cone Chair takes its name from its heart-shaped silhouette. The extended wings of the backrest are reminiscent of Mickey Mouse ears, but can also be interpreted as a contemporary development of the classic wingback chair.

Photographed at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in NYC.