Verner Panton

On October 5, R & Company will open Verner Panton, an exhibition celebrating the enduring influence and incredible imagination of the Danish designer.

R & Company has long championed Panton’s vision, becoming, in 2001, the first presenter in the United States to show his work in an immersive environment as he originally conceived. On the 20th anniversary of that first exhibition, R & Company will once again capture Panton’s singular approach to form, color, and material in an exhibition that brings viewers into the designer’s bold and playful world through a selection of both rare and iconic lamps, textiles, chairs, and additional furniture pieces. The group of nearly 50 objects that will be presented in Verner Panton were collected over the course of three years. The effort highlights R & Company’s commitment to reviving the market for Panton works, which has been dormant for many years due to the scarcity of original pieces. The exhibition will remain on view through January 8, 2022, at the gallery’s 64 White Street location.

This new exhibition will focus on Panton’s work with lighting, which was guided by the philosophy that the lightbulb should be obscured to emphasize the experience of the form, material, and emanating light. Verner Panton will feature more than a dozen examples of the designer’s hanging and wall-mounted lamps, including several Wonderlamps made with varyingly colored plastic balls and shaped into organic forms. Among the highlights is also Panton’s Fireball lamp. The work, which behaves largely as a sculpture that contains a light source, was never mass produced and captures both Panton’s sense of play and unwavering interest in pushing the boundaries that define functional objects.