In spring 2022, Louis Poulsen reintroduces the iconic Panthella in the original grey opal finish from 1971 with the trumpet-shaped base in a high-lustre chrome.
For the first time since Louis Poulsen introduced the Panthella in collaboration with Danish architect and designer Verner Panton in 1971, the iconic Panthella design is to be reintroduced with an acrylic shade in glossy grey opal.
The recently introduced medium-sized Panthella Table 320 will come in the classic grey opal. Panthella Mini and Panthella Portable will also be introduced in the classic grey opal finish, which is aesthetically versatile in any home interior as well as in restaurants, conference rooms, hotels and other venues that will benefit from a touch of artistic design lighting of the highest quality.
Panthella Portable further benefits from being cordless and has three light settings, making it ideal to move freely from inside to outside after dark, or for easy and cosy night-time illumination, outside restaurants and cafés.
Panthella was inspired by Verner Panton’s own Mirror Wall Lamp, which he used as luminescent tiles in his decoration of the canteen for the German magazine Der Spiegel in Hamburg, in 1969. The principle of concealing the light source behind a hemisphere shade, and letting the light reflect in the base, continued anew in the Panthella.
Verner Panton always sought to create graphic and figurative luminaires, which could act as small sculptures in themselves, while also being functional lamps. With the Panthella, the functional aspect is accentuated in the lampshade and the trumpet-shaped base that both work as light reflectors.
In the grey opal version, the shade is white on the inside and in combination with the high-lustre chrome, trumpet-shaped base it ensures a prime reflection of the light, resulting in pleasant, non-glaring illumination, creating a near-perfect ambience.
To this day, Panthella remains one of Verner Panton’s most cherished luminaires with its expressive yet soft, organic design language and superb lighting qualities. The timeless design reminds us of how far ahead of his colleagues Panton actually was with his love of and willingness to experiment with colours, shapes, light, spaces and new materials at a moment in Scandinavian design history, when most of his contemporaries preferred working with more classic materials.
Panton was famous for his inspirational and colourful personality, and for saying that the main purpose of his work was to provoke people into using their imagination. Rather than pleasing, Panton wanted to push conceptions of design and its effects. Perhaps that is precisely why he became one of the most influential designers of the 20th century.
Panthella Table 320, Panthella Mini and Panthella Portable will be available in the original grey opal in spring 2022.
About Verner Panton
Over the course of his career, Verner Panton (1926-1998) introduced a series of modern lamps with qualities unlike any of his Scandinavian contemporaries. With remarkable faith in the unlimited possibilities of form, he worked successfully to establish a new set of theories about light functionality and had an immense influence on design in general.
Panton had very clear ideas about his work as well as shape, colour and function. At the same time, he made conscious and bold use of different materials. He liked experimenting and working in plastic, foam, Plexiglass etc. and making his designs available to a broader audience. Where prominent Danish contemporaries, like Poul Kjærholm. Hans J. Wegner and Børge Mogensen, applied traditional craftsmanship to classic, natural materials, Panton thought ahead of his time and kept pushing the boundaries of materials, design possibilities and production methods.
About Louis Poulsen
Founded in 1874, the Danish lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen creates products that encompass the duality of design and light. Every detail in the design has a purpose. Every design starts and ends with light. Louis Poulsen offers a range of lighting aimed at the commercial and domestic lighting markets, with illumination and solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications. In close partnership with designers, architects and other talents like Poul Henningsen, Arne Jacobsen, Verner Panton, Øivind Slaatto, Alfred Homann, Oki Sato and Louise Campbell, Louis Poulsen has established itself as one of the key global suppliers of architectural and decorative lighting and has a global presence with showrooms in Copenhagen, Miami, Oslo, Tokyo, Singapore and Dusseldorf.