FURNITURE – Stefano Panterotto was born
in Trieste, near the Italian border with Slove-
nia; Alexis Tourron in Clermont-Ferrand, a
small city in central France. Having come of
age under the shadow of the 2008 financial
crisis, they roamed the world in constant
search of greener economic pastures. So as
they went from Venice to Milan, and then
to Sydney and to their current home in
Lausanne, the duo was forced to constantly
purchase and quickly discard cheap furniture
that made sense for their nomadic lifestyle.
But as Panter&Tourron, their design
studio, now has fixed roots in Switzerland and
they’re both approaching 30, they felt the need
for change. ‘These types of impersonal goods
can make you feel forever stuck with some
sort of Peter Pan syndrome,’ says Tourron.
That’s where Tense, a flat-packed
furniture collection with a permanent soul,
comes from. The five pieces, first shown at
Alcova during this year’s Milan Design Week,
are lightweight yet built to last. The lounge
chair, low table, room divider and two lamps
can be assembled and disassembled with no
additional tools – in fact, they require only
tightness, torque and tension. One piece,
for example, stands thanks to a strap, while
another employs a precisely printed 3D »Panter&Tourron’s
FLAT-PACKED
furniture is written
in the future tense
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