Verner Panton - Rays Black

Design Rays

In 1989 Verner Panton received a visit in Basel by a young colleague from London. The British designer Tom Dixon, who at the time had just been appointed as Head of Design at the home furnishings company Habitat, had travelled to Switzerland primarily to explore the possibility of collaboration between Panton and his new employer. Agreement was swiftly reached on two projects: a re-edition of the Peacock Chair that had formed part of the Plus-Linje collection and the production of a circular wool carpet. For the latter (Rays Carpet) , Panton availed himself of an already existing design that had not been carried through to production. The pattern of the hand-woven carpet, which was offered in two colorways (ivory/black and violet/light and dark blue) shows a central circle from which numerous lines radiate outwards. Towards the outer edge of the carpet, the number of radial lines doubles to form a kind of annular frame.