VP Globe Ø40 or Ø50: which Verner Panton sphere to hang?
The Ø40 suits most flats and tables from 80 cm wide at 5 kg. The Ø50 needs a ceiling for 9 kg and some height to spare. Opal glass gives the calmer light.
Short answer: Take the VP Globe Pendant Ø40 for most flats, hallways with ordinary ceilings and tables from about 80 cm wide; it weighs 5 kg. Take the VP Globe Pendant Ø50 for a stairwell, a tall room or a wide table, if the ceiling is fixed for 9 kg. In either size, choose opal glass reflectors for calmer light and polished aluminium for more sparkle.
Ten centimetres that change more than they seem
Verner Panton drew the VP Globe in 1969. The construction is the same in both sizes: an acrylic outer top and bottom shell, reflectors hung on steel chains inside it, and a chrome-plated metal canopy. You look into this lamp as much as at it, because the reflectors that hide the light source are the decoration. A third size, Ø28, exists in the family, so the Ø40 is the middle size and the Ø50 the largest.
The difference in diameter is 25%, but the difference you live with is larger. Seen from below or from across a room, the Ø50 shows about 56% more area than the Ø40. It encloses almost twice the volume and weighs 80% more.
| VP Globe Ø40 | VP Globe Ø50 | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 400 x 400 x 400 mm | Ø500 mm |
| Weight | 5 kg | 9 kg |
| Area seen from the side | Baseline | About 1.56 times |
| Minimum table width (our rule) | About 80 cm | About 90 cm |
| Hallway with 200 cm clearance | Works from a 250 cm ceiling | Needs about 270 cm |
| Choose it if | The room is a flat, the ceiling is standard and the lamp hangs over a table or in a hall | The room has height or the eye can travel: a stairwell, entrance or wide table |
The ceiling: 5 kg against 9 kg
Five kilograms is a load most ceiling points in a flat carry without fuss once the fixing goes into something solid. Nine kilograms needs a fixing into a joist, concrete or a rated anchor, decided before the sphere arrives rather than while someone holds it overhead. In an older building with lath and plaster, have an electrician check first.
Height counts too. In a hallway or anywhere people walk underneath, we keep at least 200 cm clear below the sphere. Subtract that and the sphere, and you get the space left for the canopy and suspension:
- 250 cm ceiling: 10 cm left for the Ø40, nothing for the Ø50.
- 270 cm ceiling: 30 cm for the Ø40, 20 cm for the Ø50.
- 300 cm ceiling: 60 cm for the Ø40, 50 cm for the Ø50.
Over a table nobody walks under, so the limit disappears and the table width decides.
The table: leave 20 cm either side
Our rule for a sphere over a table is at least 20 cm of free tabletop beyond the globe on each side. That keeps it clear of plates and leaves people opposite each other a view past it. For the Ø40 that means a table about 80 cm wide or more; for the Ø50, about 90 cm.
In practice, a standard rectangular table of 80–90 cm wide takes the Ø40. A round table of 100 cm or more, or a wide table where the globe is the only light, can carry the Ø50. We start with the bottom of the sphere 60–70 cm above the tabletop and check from a seated position, as we do with other dining pendants.
On a long table, two Ø40 spheres in line usually sit better than one Ø50 in the middle, because their rhythm follows the table. Panton intended the globe to work alone or in clusters, so a pair at matching heights reads as one decision. For round tables in detail, see hanging a VERPAN pendant above a round table.
Polished aluminium or opal glass
The reflector material changes the light more than the size does. In the aluminium versions, polished discs with red and blue accents bounce the light off their surfaces, so the globe glints and the colour shifts as you walk round it.
The VP Globe Pendant Opal Glass Ø40 and VP Globe Pendant Opal Glass Ø50 replace them with five opal white glass reflectors on steel chains, inside the same clear sphere. Light passes through the glass rather than rebounding, so each reflector glows from within and the whole lamp reads softer. Sizes and weights do not change: 5 kg at Ø40, 9 kg at Ø50.
Which one we would choose
- A dining table 80–90 cm wide in a flat: the Ø40 in opal glass. It clears the plates, stays easy to fix at 5 kg and gives even light to sit under.
- A hallway with a 250 cm ceiling: the Ø40, the only size that leaves room above a 200 cm walkway.
- A stairwell or double-height entrance: the Ø50 in polished aluminium, where the extra area is seen from several levels and the glinting discs read from a distance.
- A long table: two Ø40s rather than one Ø50.
- A bedroom: opal glass in either size, for the quieter light.
The Ø40 is the flexible answer for most homes; the Ø50 is for rooms with volume to fill and a ceiling ready for it. See all of Panton's lighting in the VERPAN collection.
