Textile, Finesse: Circle

Finesse: Circle, one of Verner Panton’s more innovative and unusual fabrics produced during the early 1970s, is printed and has areas of burn out within the printed circles. This process creates a semi-translucent textile that, when held up to the light, creates a dappled effect and a feeling of three-dimensionality. The Finesse series also included Square and Curve. Color was a central element in all of Panton’s designs for interiors, furniture and, in particular, textiles, which became the most important vehicle for color in his futurist environments. Born in Denmark, Panton lived and worked most of his life in Basel, Switzerland, where by the mid-1950s he was an internationally acclaimed interior architect and designer. He pursued architecture studies at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen (1947–51) and was greatly influenced by his mentor, Poul Henningsen, a Danish designer known for his iconic lighting design of the mid-20th century. Equally influential was Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen, for whom Panton worked from 1950 and 1952. Panton began a long term collaboration with the Swiss textile manufacturer, Mira-X, in 1969. Panton’s collections for Mira X were based on his idea of an integrated concept of living and a vision of colored space. Many of these textiles also represented Panton’s love for experimentation with form, material, and production techniques. Every fabric is a variation on the initial collection, which was based on a limited number of geometric patterns and only eight pure colors with additional tonal variations. The number of colors and patterns grew over time until the 1980s, when Mira-X ceased to manufacture Panton textiles. Finesse: Circle represents an earlier design and different printing technique than the later Mira-X textiles in the museum’s collection at the time of proposed acquisition, all of which were produced in 1983; the museum also holds chairs designed by Panton (ca. 1959–60).