Vernon Panton_Panthella lamp

I chose Vernon Panton’s Panthella lamp as another classic design piece for this current project.  It is made of sheet steel and both the lamp shade and base are enamelled, in order to reflect the light.  This lamp creates a lovely ambient glow and is available in a number of vibrant shades, thought the underside of the lamp is always white.

In manufacturing machinery is used to create the smooth dome shape.  As this was not an option for me, for this material technical study I attempted to hammer a steel bowl shape from 2mm steel sheet.  This took me numerous hours, starting out from a leather cushion and hammering the centre point to the depth I required, using a mallet.  I then hammered around in a coil configuration, gradually working outwards.  Later on I moved onto a former mold, cut into a tree stump.  This enabled me to hammer the curved sides, using a rounded hammer.  I had to be careful not to allow creases to form around the outer edges as the dome took shape, otherwise I had to be quick to hammer them smooth.  It was a very physical arduous exercise, however, the results were rewarding.

Once I had created a dome lamp shape I then mover onto the enamelling process.  I used an airbrush to apply a grip glace, before using the same technique to apply a white enamel glace.  Unfortunately due to my impatience I placed it in the kiln before the glace had completely dried through, which resulted in it bubbling and splitting.  This was a tough lesson to learn, after such a long process, which made me better appreciate why manufacturing saves a lot of time and money.

Before it all went wrong!