‘The main purpose of my work is to provoke people into using their imagination,’ Verner Panton once said. Among his many colourful and fun-filled creations is a series of animal-shaped, modular sculptures now being reissued by Swiss furniture company Vitra (maker of the ‘Panton’ chair since the 1960s), as part of celebrations marking the centenary of the great Danish designer and architect’s birth.
The series takes its cues from Panton’s ‘Pantonaef’ system, produced by Swiss toy manufacturer Naef in the 1970s, which comprised elements that could be clipped together to construct a variety of different structures. Although mostly designed for adults, this system may well have inspired the later craze for the Rubik Snake and its millions of plastic fidget-toy offspring.
In collaboration with Verner Panton Design, Vitra has developed the ‘Panton Cubes’, a re-edition of Panton’s design classics in kit form. It includes four animal sculptures: a duck, a flamingo, a cat and a giraffe. Each kit contains the elements needed to construct the respective animal figure, and, as Panton wished, whichever shapes and combinations our imagination can come up with – the possibilities are endless.
‘The “Panton Cubes” are a wonderful addition to Vitra’s Verner Panton collection and highlight a lesser-known aspect of his work,’ says Stine Liv Burr, design manager of Classics at Vitra. ‘They demonstrate his playful exploration of geometry, colour and reflection, while translating these ideas into sculptural objects that invite interaction and imagination.’
The modular system consists of square frames that are assembled to form cubes, which are then linked with clips and fitted with coloured or chrome panels to create patterns and volumes. Whereas the original versions came in a matte finish, the re-editions feature glossy surfaces in a chrome finish or duo-tone colour combination, all based on Panton’s original colour choice and developed in close collaboration with Verner Panton Design AG.
‘At Vitra, we believe that colour has the power to influence mood and shape the way we experience our surroundings – a conviction that Verner Panton championed throughout his career,’ says Burr. ‘With their mirrored and glossy surfaces, the “Panton Cubes” interact with light, colour and space in a way that feels as engaging and inspiring today as when Panton first conceived them.’
The ‘Panton Cubes’ will be launched at the London Design Festival (12-20 September 2026) at Tramshed, Vitra’s London showroom in Shoreditch. New pieces by Berlin-based Studio Œ, Erwan Bouroullec, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, and Panter & Tourron will also be unveiled.
Archival versions of the 'Panton Cubes' are currently on display at ‘Verner Panton: Form, Colour, Space’ (until 9 May 2027), a comprehensive survey of Panton’s work at the Vitra Design Museum’s Schaudepot near Basel.
