In the early 1950s, Verner Panton began exploring the idea of a chair made from a single material and formed in one piece. By the mid-1950s he had developed the drawings, and in 1958 the first full-scale model was completed. Willi Fehlbaum, the founder of Vitra, was interested in the idea but only agreed to it when his son Rolf Fehlbaum paid a visit to Panton, returned with glowing reports and initiated further development. This led to the collaboration with Vitra in the early 1960s on the development of the Panton Chair and in 1967 the first cantilever chair moulded from a single piece of glass-fiber reinforced polyester was born. Today, it is one of the most striking and best-known icons of 20th century furniture design. 

The professional collaboration between Verner Panton and Vitra evolved into lasting ties with his family, who remained in the Basel area – where his wife Marianne still resides today. Verner Panton passed away in Copenhagen in 1998. The close partnership continues through Marianne Panton and their daughter Carin Panton von Halem and extends to re-editions of the Cone Chair, Heart Cone Chair, Amoebe, Amoebe Highback, Visiona Stool and Living Tower, which have been manufactured by Vitra since 2004.