Verner Panton: Environments, Colors, Systems and Patterns

Ida Engholm, Anders Ib Michelsen

Abstract

Forside > Ansatte Verner Panton: Environments, Colors, Systems, Patterns Publikation: Forskning - fagfællebedømt › Bog Præsentation Citationsformater Anders Ib Michelsen, Ida Engholm 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.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherPhaidon Press
Number of pages335
ISBN (Print)978-0-7148-7716-7
Publication statusPublished - 2018

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