Panter&Tourron’s studio in LausanneIn Switzerland, Panter&Tourron are designing subtle, quiet objects that people can’t help but take notice of.
It would be unfair to say that their work is ‘eye-catching,’ as that may conjure an image of something gaudy, gold, or strobing.
But there is a certain attention their work whispers for – a kind of if-you-know-you-know type signaling.
‘We never thought that it would appeal to a whole world of influencers and fashion lovers,’ says Panterotto, still with a hint of shock.
They didn’t see themselves in this language of ‘traditional, polished materials like gold,’ that was standard of the high-end sector.
Panter&Tourron’s studio in Lausanne
In Switzerland, Panter&Tourron are designing subtle, quiet objects that people can’t help but take notice of. It would be unfair to say that their work is ‘eye-catching,’ as that may conjure an image of something gaudy, gold, or strobing. But there is a certain attention their work whispers for – a kind of if-you-know-you-know type signaling. Chatting with the studio’s founders, designers Stefano Panterotto and Alexis Tourron, they recall the funny places they’ve seen their work pop up, from a Balenciaga candle on supermodel Bella Hadid’s coffee table to their lamps in a futuristic Apple TV show. Yet speaking to the two, dressed in the types of dark sweaters that are almost archetypal of the industrial design type, there’s a keen sense that they do not have the spotlight in mind when creating their work.
Panter&Tourron is the Lausanne-based Switzerland of Stefano Panterotto and Alexis Tourron, pictured above is their Hall lamp | image © T-Space
On designing with Demna & Balenciaga
In conversation with designboom, Stefano Panterotto of Panter&Tourron recounts creating a few home objects for Balenciaga back in 2022 when Demna was creative director and Martina Tiefenthaler was the brand’s Chief Creative Officer. He looks back fondly on the process, recognizing how at the time, the fashion house derived its aesthetic by mixing ‘a lot of ironic and functional things, very far from the typical fashion aesthetic references,’ and how that reflected the values of Panter&Tourron.
‘We designed it in a bubble in our studio in the not-so-glamorous Lausanne (compared to Milan or Paris),’ he says, speaking to the contrast between where they work and the flashier European fashion capitals. So when the candles and the lunch sets they created started popping up on their social media feeds, it came as a happy, albeit unexpected, surprise. ‘We never thought that it would appeal to a whole world of influencers and fashion lovers,’ says Panterotto, still with a hint of shock. ‘It was very funny to see it out there.’
back in 2022, the studio created home objects for Balenciaga back in 2022 | image © Romain Roucoules, courtesy of Balenciaga, CGI by Panter&Tourron at the time, Demna was creative director and Martina Tiefenthaler was Chief Creative Officer of the brand | image © Romain Roucoules, courtesy of Balenciaga, CGI by Panter&Tourron
Switzerland and expanded horizons
From the beginning, when the two met during their graduate studies at the Swiss art and design school École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL), they recognized that the country would come to shape their future design sensibilities. ‘I studied and worked in Italy, Alexis in France, both countries with strong design heritage,’ Panterotto points out before going on to emphasize how the Swiss approach to industrial design, in fields like watchmaking and performance, expanded their ideas of what the field could be.
After graduating from ECAL, the two decided to open their own studio. ‘At the very beginning, we worked in the world of luxury where there are high-profile clients or really wealthy buyers behind it.’ Panterotto explains, ‘but in a way, it’s also a very private world. It’s less ‘out there’ and Switzerland is also very privacy driven in term of wealth and who buys what.’
Signal, their ceramic table lamp, appeared in the Apple TV show, Silos | image courtesy of Raawii
The ‘new codes’ of luxury
‘We underestimated how much scarcity and material richness still defined luxury for people,’ Tourron says of the old ‘codes’ of luxury they discovered when they entered the field. They didn’t see themselves in this language of ‘traditional, polished materials like gold,’ that was standard of the high-end sector. ‘It pushed us to be even clearer about high-end manufacturing and performance in our own work.’ In their years of practice, the two have worked to reassess and redefine these ‘codes.’ Tourron goes on to elaborate that it comes from a movement ‘towards truth to material, performance, and quality, focusing on where and how things are made and produced.’
process shot of the making of the Hall lamp with the BWB Group, surface technology specialists, presented by Profiler Special Projects | image © Julien Chavaillaz
Learning from Hermès window displays
The studio has returned time and time again to Hermès window displays, their careers’ earmarked by the brightly colored storefronts. In comparing his previous work in tech, where the culture was really fail fast and fail often, Tourron brings up how, ‘in luxury, it is called ‘high-end’ because everything is really double-and triple-checked, like the quality of the craftsman you can collaborate with, the assembly details, the materials sourcing, etc.’ The two came to learn that, in this environment, storytelling was often just as important as the product itself. ‘You can create an excellent product, but to sell it for that price you need more than a perfect product; you have to have an amazing story too,’ reflects Tourron.
