VERPAN Fun Pendants Compared: 0DM, 1DM, 2DM, 10DM

The VERPAN Fun pendants all use the same three ingredients: hand cut seashell discs, a chrome plated metal frame and stainless steel rings. What separates them is proportion. Two of the four hang as tall cascades, one spreads into a wide shallow disc, and one is small enough for a hallway. This comparison sets the Fun 0DM, 1DM, 2DM and 10DM side by side on size, silhouette and the kind of room each one suits.

One idea from 1964, four proportions

Verner Panton (1926–1998) trained as an architect at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and began his career in Arne Jacobsen's studio, then moved away from the teak and restraint of mainstream Danish modernism. The Fun series of 1964 is the clearest evidence of that turn. Instead of a solid shade, Panton hung dozens of thin discs of natural mother of pearl on stainless steel rings suspended from a chrome plated frame, finished with a black fabric cord.

Because the shells are cut by hand from a natural material, no two pendants carry the same pattern of iridescence. The construction is also visually light: you read the shape as a curtain of shell rather than as a solid volume, which matters a great deal once you start comparing the larger formats. The series is produced today by VERPAN, the Copenhagen company founded in 2003 to keep Panton's designs in production.

The four pendants compared

Tall cascade or wide disc

The single most useful comparison in the Fun family is 0DM against 10DM. On paper they look similar: both use a four ring frame, both are large, and their diameters are only 4 cm apart. In a room they behave like opposites. The 0DM stacks its four rings into a 76 cm column of shell, so it draws the eye downward and fills vertical space. The Fun Pendant 10DM takes the same four rings and spreads them outward, ending 38 cm deep and 57 cm across. It is the widest of the four and the shallowest, which makes it the one to choose when the ceiling is ordinary rather than generous.

Put differently: the Fun Pendant 0DM needs height to be understood, while the 10DM needs width. Above a long rectangular table, the 0DM reads as a vertical event at one point along its length. Above a round table or a kitchen island, the 10DM covers the surface more evenly and keeps the sight lines across the room open.

Where the 1DM and 2DM fit

The Fun Pendant 1DM is the middle ground and the one most people end up with. Three rings, Ø 45 cm and 60 cm tall, give it the cascading character of the 0DM at a scale that suits a dining table in a room of normal proportions. Hung low, around 60–70 cm above the tabletop, the shells sit near eye level and the shimmer is read close up rather than admired from across the room.

The Fun Pendant 2DM works on a different logic. At Ø 27 cm and 3 kg it is the lightest and least demanding of the four, with two rings instead of four. It suits places where a larger piece would crowd the space: beside a bed, in an entry, over a small café style table or in a window corner. Two of them hung at staggered heights make a quiet composition in a stairwell or a corner, and that pairing often reads better in a compact flat than one large pendant would. Our guide to designer lighting for small apartments covers the same problem across other Danish designs.

Movement, sound and the quality of the light

Shell is the reason these pendants behave unlike a metal or opal shade. Light passes through the nacre and is broken up rather than reflected in one direction, so the glow is warm, uneven and soft edged, closer to candlelight in character than to a downward beam. That is worth knowing before you choose: the Fun pendants give a room atmosphere and a pool of gentle light, and a table used for close work will want a second, more directional source as well.

They also move. A door opening, a window left ajar or people passing beneath is enough to set the discs swaying against one another with a faint chime. This is part of the design rather than a flaw, but it does change how you place them. A pendant hung in a draught or in a busy circulation route will be in near constant motion, which can be lovely over a dining table and distracting above a desk. The larger formats carry more shell and therefore more of this effect: 7 kg of discs on the 10DM and 6.5 kg on the 0DM, against 3 kg on the 2DM.

Practical points before you choose

Three things decide most of these choices. The first is ceiling height. Below about two and a half metres, a 76 cm cascade over open floor becomes an obstacle, so either hang the 0DM over a table where nobody walks or take the 10DM instead. The second is the fixing. At 7 kg and 6.5 kg, the two large formats are heavy for a pendant, and the ceiling point should be checked before it is hung.

The third is the bulb. Warm toned light brings out the natural lustre of mother of pearl; a cool white one flattens it and makes the shells look grey. Choose something at the cosier end of the colour temperature range and let the shell do the rest.

For upkeep, the shells respond best to gentle handling: dust them with a soft dry cloth or a soft brush, one tier at a time, and avoid anything wet or abrasive on the nacre. The chrome frame and stainless steel rings can be wiped with a dry cloth. Panton's other lamps sit alongside these in our VERPAN collection, which is the natural next stop if the shell cascade is not quite the shape your room wants.