TEXT Daniel Butenschøn PHOTOGRAPHY Andrew Zuckerman		PHANTOMMENACE
Phantom Chair by Verner Panton for Innovation		New Yorkers characteristically live in small spaces, some smaller than others. Over time, they become obsessed with making the most of it, getting up at odd hours to stack file cabinets and weed belongings, even removing doors from hinges. Within easy reach there is also a sofa, a desk, two chairs, a bureau and a small dog. Now your Freudian nightmare of walking through your closet to discover another room has had a wake-up call. It is a playful line of pop furniture that facilitiates living large in the little apple, designed by legendary Verner Panton for Innovation, the Danish company that gave us the bean bag. “Young people usually have little living space, but generally like to party and be a whole crowd together,” Panton said while creating the Phantom Chair, seen here. "I think they should have a multi-purpose object to suit their changing needs: a different chair, a lazy chaise lounge, a double seat, a table and a bench all in one.” The Phantom is sturdy, wear-proof, reasonably priced - it retails at $375 - and has a clear decorative appearance, even for your garden if you happen to have one. “Phantom is ready to step into the next millennium, and at the same time it bears Panton’s specific hallmark, with clear references to his distinguished designs of the late ‘60s and ‘70s,” says designer Jesper Bo Elg at Innovation. The experimental and uncompromising bad boy of post-war Danish design, Panton pushed the design envelope as far as he could. He used steel wire frames and molded plastic like no designer before him. Panton’s futuristic, neo-organic forms reflected the casual ideal of ‘60s and ‘70s lifestyles even though, ironically perhaps, he was obsessed with geometric correctness. He saw his timeless designs return to fashionable status before his death in 1998. Panton’s is the furniture for people with a dozen restaurants, bars, shops, fruit and flower stores on their block, taxis that come too close, and doormen who know your business. But also suburbanites with toolsheds bigger than typical New York shelters will take pleasure in having these functional, elegant and slick pieces.
Copyright © 2004 Totem Media, Inc.