It was postwar Europe, and a new world power had emerged on the scene that would change the way people lived: plastic. Experimental Danish designer Verner Panton—fascinated with the progressive polymer that could be molded into any shape and mass-produced—set his sights on a fantasy: a chair made in one piece. The challenge? Finding someone who could produce it.
“Fifteen to 20 manufacturers have tried it but have all rejected the project for different reasons,” Panton told Rolf Fehlbaum, of Swiss manufacturer Vitra, in 1963. They agreed to take on the task.
Four years and ten prototypes later, a limited run of what became known as the Panton chair—a cantilevered seat in laminated, fiberglass-reinforced polyester—was debuted at the Cologne Furniture Fair.