Straightforward honesty in construction and clean profiles with functional elements make each piece a model of efficiency in this collection. A wide array of individual pieces, all readily interchangeable for complementing any room, the Basic Cabinet Series is known for its practical storage areas and handsomely designed exteriors.

The Details:

• Flexibility for vertical or horizontal arrangements to achieve custom-made, built-in look
• Two veneer options available: light brown walnut (2U) and natural oak (OK)
• 5.5″ black wooden leg option for stand-alone application also available
• Custom aluminum alloy pulls
• Warranty: one year

Product Launches October 15, 2010

“Form is a mystery that defies description but brings people pleasure.”
- Alvar Aalto

Artek is different from most companies in that they have a huge product portfolio from the Aalto’s, which was created in the 1930′s. His designs, their ideology, are still the backbone of what Artek does. Artek can’t compete with the big companies that push out lots of products, so they don’t do a new design if there isn’t an innovation in the materials or manufacturing. That’s why Artek often works with architects.

Kartell produces this neat looking all plastic chair, designed by Philippe Starck with Eugeni Quitllet.

It is available in several transparent colours as well as a few matte colours.  In all their fun shades, these chairs are sure to please.

Designed by Verner Panton in 1969, the Living Tower embodied the spirit of the 60′s interactive ‘living’ landscapes.  Verner designed many great pieces, breaking away from the more traditional techniques and materials being used by his fellow designers. 

Hans J. Wegner Wishbone Chair

He took the living landscapes theme to a whole new level with the “Fantasy” Landscapes he created for Bayer in 1968 and 1970. 

"Visiona II". One of Verners Fantasy Landscapes

The Living Tower is still available through Vitra today, although not an inexpensive piece.  The Tower serves as Art, interactive furniture and a fantastic, eye-catching way to divide a room.

Verner with family

The Living Tower is available in red, matt blue and chocolate.  It is constructed of a Birch Plywood Frame, uses polyurethane foam, classic upholstery and the outer dimensions are 78 3/4″ square.  There are 4 levels at which you can lounge on the Living Tower.

4 Levels of the Living Tower

A fun,  funky piece of furniture sure to be a conversation piece for years to come.

Verner Panton went into production on his first Panton chair in 1967.  That was the Panton Classic, a uniquely styled chair made of a rigid expanded plastic, and using cantilever technology.  This chair is distinguishable by its shiny appearance due to the lacquered surface.  Also, it is only available in Red, Black or White.  The Panton Classic was the starting point for a long and successful line of Panton chairs, that now come in Junior (Child’s sized version), a set of Miniatures, and a more affordable version of the Classic known just as the Panton Chair which came in to production in 1990.

Red Classic Pantons being put to use

The advantages of the newer Panton Chair, other than it is about 1/5th of the price of the Classic, is that technological progress has allowed it to be made out of Polypropylene, and it is available in a wide range of colours.  You can now get it in White, Grey, Orange, Red or Chartreuse.  This chair has a matte finish, and is incredibly versatile.  I find the chair surprisingly comfortable;  I had assumed it would be cold, hard, uncomfortable and, well…plastic!  But I have to say it is now one of my favourites, and none of my qualms rang true.

White Panton Chairs

The Junior Panton is exactly the same as the newer Panton Chair, just about %25 smaller.  Perfect for children, and comes in lots more fun colours: White, Red, Orange, Light Pink, Light Blue and Lime (I wish they would produce these colours for us big kids!).

Junior Panton Chairs

A great gift option for a Verner Panton fan would be the set of Panton Classic Miniatures.  They are a 1:6 scale, and come in a  set of 5.  They are produced exactly as the originals were (materials, construction, etc.).  According to Vitra, on average it takes 5 hours of manual labour to create these little gems!

As a final note, I came across the picture below while surfing the net.  It amazed me the uses that Panton Chairs have been put to.   As you can see, these chairs have been customized, but what an interesting concept!  Enjoy!

Panton Chairs, St. Bartholomew’s Church, Chodovice.

Don’t do it !!

That is, if you want a financial investment. If that is the case, then go see a financial adviser. Yes, there are people that can buy and sell furniture and make a quick buck, but, the odds are that you aren’t one of them.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that I don’t truly believe that furniture is a good investment, it’s just that for me, it’s an investment that will only pay off financially for those that I leave behind and that is only if I can’t instill some kind of a sense of style into them before my time is up. Hopefully if that’s the case, then they’ll be fighting over these objects the way family members are supposed to when loved ones pass on. Not because they want to sell the items, but because something about each piece appeals to them on some level or another.

Furniture is an investment in life and in lifestyle and depending on how much value you put on furniture as a part of lifestyle, you may or may not decide to invest in items for your home that others deem to be senseless extravagances for the wealthy.

I continually find myself telling clients to slow down and think about the end result that they would like to achieve with their home. When Mel and I moved to our current home, we had one rule, “Nothing comes into the house that isn’t part of our long term plan” Now this of course was pretty much impossible to achieve, because at that time we had a very limited amount of furniture that fit the plan, but we stayed as true to that as possible and it motivated us to come up with a plan and do our best to save up and buy the items that we really want. It isn’t often that I sell anything anymore, but I have to let you know that I just sold six Marcel Breuer Cesca chairs for about half of what I paid for them three years ago.

Let that be a lesson to me.