442
Gio Ponti
Important sofa
- Estimate
- $60,000 - 80,000
$75,000
Lot Details
Fabric, oak, brass.
circa 1950
30 1/8 x 52 1/2 x 30 1/4 in. (76.5 x 133.4 x 76.8 cm)
Produced by Cassina, Italy. Together with a certificate of authenticity from the Gio Ponti Archives.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
The present sofa and armchairs were designed by Gio Ponti for the ocean liner Andrea Doria, which launched in 1951 and tragically sank in 1956. While a small group of examples were fabricated by Cassina, the sofa and chairs were never put into actual production or retailed by the company.
Provenance
Literature
Gio Ponti
Italian | B. 1891 D. 1979Among the most prolific talents to grace twentieth-century design, Gio Ponti defied categorization. Though trained as an architect, he made major contributions to the decorative arts, designing in such disparate materials as ceramics, glass, wood and metal. A gale force of interdisciplinary creativity, Ponti embraced new materials like plastic and aluminum but employed traditional materials such as marble and wood in original, unconventional ways.In the industrial realm, he designed buildings, cars, machinery and appliances — notably, the La Cornuta espresso machine for La Pavoni — and founded the ADI (Industrial Designer Association). Among the most special works by Gio Ponti are those that he made in collaboration with master craftsmen such as the cabinetmaker Giordano Chiesa, the illustrator Piero Fornasetti and the enamellist Paolo de Poli.
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