Private collection, Milan, circa 1937
Private collection, Rome
Acquired from the above by the present owner
'Il Déco in Italia', Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, 20 March-31 June, 2004
'In visita alle case', Domus, no. 113, May 1937, p. 41, fig. 5
Marco Romanelli, ed., Gio Ponti: A World, exh. cat., Design Museum, London, 2002, p. 32
Fabio Benzi, Il Déco in Italia, Milan, 2004, illustrated p. 169, fig. 235
Ugo La Pietra, ed., Gio Ponti: L’arte si innamora dell’industria, New York, 2009, p. 61, fig. 139
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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