Verner Panton 'Bachelor' Easy Chair, Manufactured by Fritz Hansen, Denmark, 1955
View Similar Items
Verner Panton 'Bachelor' Easy Chair, Manufactured by Fritz Hansen, Denmark, 1955
About the Item
- Creator:Fritz Hansen (Manufacturer),Verner Panton (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 28.75 in (73 cm)Width: 20.48 in (52 cm)Depth: 27.56 in (70 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1960s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor structural damages. Condition: Wear commensurate with age and use, odd marks to canvas some variants in colour shades, some minor corrosion to frame. Seat pad reupholstered in a close matching fabric.
- Seller Location:London Road, Baldock, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: 1490-PAN1stDibs: LU236439696713
Verner Panton
Verner Panton introduced the word “groovy” — or at least its Danish equivalent — into the Scandinavian modern design lexicon. He developed fantastical, futuristic forms and embraced bright colors and new materials such as plastic, fabric-covered polyurethane foam and steel-wire framing. And Panton’s ebullient Pop art sensibility made him an international design star of the 1960s and ’70s. This radical departure from classic Danish modernism, however, actually stemmed from his training under the greats of that design style.
Born on the largely rural Danish island of Funen, Panton studied architecture and engineering at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where the lighting designer Poul Henningsen was one of his teachers. After graduating, in 1951, Panton worked in the architectural office of Arne Jacobsen, and he became a close friend of Hans Wegner's.
Henningsen taught a scientific approach to design; Jacobsen was forever researching new materials; and Wegner, the leader in modern furniture design using traditional woodworking and joinery, encouraged experimental form. Panton opened his own design office in 1955, issuing tubular steel chairs with woven seating. His iconoclastic aesthetic was announced with his 1958 Cone chair, modified a year later as the Heart Cone chair. Made of upholstered sheet metal and with a conical base in place of legs, the design shocked visitors to a Copenhagen furniture fair.
Panton went on to successive bravura technical feats. His curving, stackable 1960 Panton chair, his most popular design, was the first chair to be made from a single piece of molded plastic. Three years later, he introduced the S model, the first legless chair crafted from a single piece of plywood, cantilevered on a round metal base. Panton would spend the latter 1960s and early ’70s developing all-encompassing room environments composed of sinuous and fluid-formed modular seating made of foam and metal wire. He also created a series of remarkable lighting designs, most notably his Fun chandeliers — introduced in 1964 and composed of scores of shimmering capiz-shell disks — and the Space Age VP Globe pendant light of 1969.
As you will see from the offerings on 1stDibs, Verner Panton’s designs are made to stand out and put an eye-catching exclamation point on even the most modern decor.
Fritz Hansen
When the Copenhagen-based furniture maker Fritz Hansen opened for business more than 140 years ago, the company — which today styles itself The Republic of Fritz Hansen — adhered to the traditional, time-honored Danish values of craftsmanship in woodworking and joinery. Yet thanks to the postwar innovations of Arne Jacobsen and others, Fritz Hansen would become the country’s leader in Scandinavian modern design using new, forward-looking materials and methods.
Fritz Hansen started his company in 1872, specializing in the manufacture of small furniture parts. In 1915, the firm became the first in Denmark to make chairs using steam-bent wood (a technique most familiar from birch used in the ubiquitous café chairs by Austrian maker Thonet). At the time, Fritz Hansen was best known for seating that featured curved legs and curlicue splats and referenced 18th-century Chippendale designs.
In the next few decades, the company promoted simple, plain chairs with slatted backs and cane or rush seats designed by such proto-modernist masters as Kaare Klint and Søren Hansen. Still, the most aesthetically striking piece Fritz Hansen produced in the first half of the 20th century was arguably the China chair of 1944 by Hans Wegner — and that piece, with its yoke-shaped bentwood back- and armrest, was based on seating manufactured in China during the Ming dynasty. (Wegner was moved by portraits he’d seen of Danish merchants in the Chinese chairs.)
Everything changed in 1952 with Arne Jacobsen’s Ant chair. The collaboration between the architect and Fritz Hansen officially originated in 1934 — that year, Jacobsen created his inaugural piece for the manufacturer, the solid beechwood Bellevue chair for a restaurant commission. The Ant chair, however, was the breakthrough.
With assistance from his then-apprentice Verner Panton, Jacobsen designed the Ant chair for the cafeteria of a Danish healthcare company called Novo Nordisk. The chair was composed of a seat and backrest formed from a single piece of molded plywood attached, in its original iteration, to three tubular metal legs. Its silhouette suggests the shape of the insect’s body, and the lightweight, stackable chair and its biomorphic form became an international hit.
Jacobsen followed with more plywood successes, such as the Grand Prix chair of 1957. The following year he designed the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen and its furnishings, including the Egg chair and the Swan chair. Those two upholstered pieces, with their lush, organic frames made of fiberglass-reinforced polyurethane, have become the two chairs most emblematic of mid-20th-century cool. Moreover, the Egg and Swan led Fritz Hansen to fully embrace new man-made materials, like foam, plastic and steel wire used to realize the avant-garde creations of later generations of designers with whom the firm collaborated, such as Piet Hein, Jørn Utzon (the architect of the Sydney Opera House) and Verner Panton. If the Fritz Hansen of 1872 would not now recognize his company, today’s connoisseurs certainly do.
Find a collection of vintage Fritz Hansen tables, lounge chairs, sofas and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- "Robert" Fireside Chair by Pierre Guariche Upholstered in Pierre FreyBy Meurop, Pierre GuaricheLocated in London Road, Baldock, HertfordshireA "Robert" Fireside chair designed by Pierre Guariche and produced in the 1960s by Meurop. Formed of tubular metal and reupholstered in decorative waves of fake fur that is a perf...Category
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSteel
$1,535 Sale Price56% Off - Giancarlo Piretti “Alky” Chairs In Yarn Collective bouclé *Customizable*By Artifort, Giancarlo PirettiLocated in London Road, Baldock, HertfordshireA pair of Giancarlo Piretti “Alky” chairs newly upholstered in a 'Parchment' colored Yarn Collective bouclé fabric. Parchment is a light, neutral, sepia, off-white colour, we have...Category
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSteel
- Étienne Fermigier 'Attr' Actual Chair, Actual Edition, France, 1972By Etienne FermigierLocated in London Road, Baldock, HertfordshireAn Actual chair, Actual Edition, 1972, by Étienne Fermigier (attr). An important figure in French design who was unfortunately killed in a car accident...Category
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
$1,599 Sale Price57% Off - Giancarlo Piretti “Alky” Chair in New Velvet, Artifort, 1970s, *Customizable*By Artifort, Giancarlo PirettiLocated in London Road, Baldock, HertfordshireA single Giancarlo Piretti “Alky” chair newly upholstered in Designers Guild linen-colored cotton velvet & potentially customizable in over 100 colors. *Lead time for despatch of Al...Category
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSteel
- Giancarlo Piretti “Alky” Chairs in New Velvet, Artifort, 1970s - *Customizable*By Artifort, Giancarlo PirettiLocated in London Road, Baldock, HertfordshireA pair of Giancarlo Piretti “Alky” chairs newly upholstered in Designers Guild linen-colored cotton velvet & potentially customizable in over 100 colors. *Lead time for despatch of ...Category
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSteel
- An Early Afra and Tobia Scarpa "Ciprea" chair, Cassina, Italy, 1967By Cassina, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in London Road, Baldock, HertfordshireAn early example of a "Ciprea" chair by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Cassina, Italy, 1967 This example features its original deep cream leather upholstery and being one of the first ar...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsLeather
- 1960s Verner Panton Bachelor Lounge Easy Chair for Fritz Hansen Denmark 2 SlingBy Fritz Hansen, Verner PantonLocated in Philadelphia, PAListed for sale is a gorgeous Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen Bachelor lounge chair. This example dates to the late 1960's and comes with both its original cover and another more recent cover (shown in the photos). This is an iconic and very rare Panton...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Verner Panton Easy Chairs with Stool Model Bachelor by Fritz Hansen in DenmarkBy Verner PantonLocated in Limhamn, Skåne länEasy chairs with stool model Bachelor by Verner Panton. Produced by Fritz Hansen in Denmark.Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Verner Panton Bachelor Chair in Blue Sailcloth, Frtiz Hansen, 1955By Verner Panton, Fritz HansenLocated in London, GBVerner Panton Bachelor Chair with Armrests Model 3351 Blue Sailcloth and Chromed Steel Tube Designed 1953, Produced 1955 The design of this...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
$1,228 Sale Price55% Off - Early 'Bachelor' Chair with Ottomon by Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen, 1953By Fritz Hansen, Verner PantonLocated in Antwerpen, VANEarly ‘Bachelor’ chair with a rare matching ottoman designed by Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen in 1953. Both items have the signature minimalist tubular steel frame original canvas u...Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Unique Pair of 'Bachelor' Chairs by Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen, 1971By Fritz Hansen, Verner PantonLocated in Antwerpen, VANUnique pair of ‘Bachelor’ chairs designed by Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen in 1953. These examples were bought around 1971 together with a rare matching table which still has the la...Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Scandinavian Modern Easy Chair G by Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen, 1973By Fritz Hansen, Verner PantonLocated in Lisboa, LisboaVerner Panton "Easy Chair G" designed in 1973 and produced by Fritz Hansen. An iconic model by Danish designer Verner Panton, always with vibrant colors a...Category
Vintage 1970s Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$1,413 Sale Price57% Off
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
113 Chairs That Prove Danish Design Isn’t Limited to Denmark
In an innovative display, the Designmuseum Danmark is permanently exhibiting the 20th century's most iconic seats.
Verner Panton’s Bold Designs From the 1960s and ’70s Are Showing Up Everywhere
From high-fashion runways to a brand-new book, the groovy, futurist work of this groundbreaking Danish creative is receiving newfound — and much deserved — attention.