St. Bartholomäus, Chodovice

Jakub Berdych and Maxim Velcovsky are designer and share not only a design studio named Qubus, but also the love to special creations. Though this is great, nevertheless, it would not reach to be mentioned on this side. If there was not another principal character who gives Panton’s idiom to this small history.

Some day in 2006 the two Czechs left her dearly loved capital and came along on their way in the 140 km away Chodovice. The municipality in the north of the Czech Republic possessed a church, the SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, whose inside had quite been getting on in years and shouted after a renovation. For the re-design of the church Jakub and Maxim were exactly the right persons. They took 48 panton chair. Of course in white, the colour of the innocence, and shaped a cross in their back.

The designers: “The central nave has been stripped of dull repaints and left totally exposed so that visitors can watch the course of history on fragments and details on the wall. Illuminated by chandeliers adorned with pressed and roughly cut crystal, the bare space is dominated by an “army” of legendary chairs designed by Verner Panton with one crucial detail added – a Christian cross carved through the back of the chair.

The redesign and religiousness of this design icon is multiplied by its installation on dozens of Persian carpets, which are so typical for Muslim shrines. This space is an eclectic cocktail and a place to ponder, moving us towards cultural dialogue.” With it they gave to the place not only a piece of big-city culture, but also the unique chair icon of the 20th century: the Panton Chair.