Private collection, Milan
Phillips, London, 'Important Design', 18 October 2018, lot 4
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Gio Ponti, 'Un'abitazione dimostrativa alla VI Triennale', Domus, no. 103, July 1936, pp. 15, 17, 19
'Una collezione di poltrone', Domus, no. 129, September 1938, p. 51
Lisa Licitra Ponti, Gio Ponti: The Complete Works 1923-1978, London, 1990, p. 83
Laura Falconi, Gio Ponti: Interiors, Objects, Drawings, 1920-1976, Milan, 2004, pp. 111-12
Ugo La Pietra, ed., Gio Ponti, New York, 2009, pp. 102-03
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.
View More Works