Christie’s, 20th-Century Decorative Art and Design, London, April 30, 2008, lot 58
Carlo Pirovano, ed., Gio Ponti: Ceramiche 1923–1930, exh. cat., Milan, 1983, pp. 39, 110, 173–175; Loris Manna, Gio Ponti: Le Maioliche, Milan, 2000, pp. 73–75; Ugo La Pietra, ed., Gio Ponti, New York, 2009, p. 34; Graziella Roccella, Gio Ponti: Master of Lightness, Cologne, 2009, pp. 18–19
Italian • 1891 - 1979
Among 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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