Fontana Arte Mirrors
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.
1940s Italian Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Fontana Arte Mirrors
Chrome
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Art Glass, Cut Glass
Mid-20th Century Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass, Mirror
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1940s Italian Art Deco Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Crystal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s European Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Metal
1950s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
Mid-20th Century Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Mirrors
Murano Glass, Mirror
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass
Mid-20th Century Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1940s Italian Art Deco Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass, Wood
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass, Chrome
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1940s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Metal
1940s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass
1950s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1970s Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1940s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass
1950s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1940s Italian Art Deco Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Art Glass
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Copper
1940s Italian Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Metal
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Glass
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Mirrors
Art Glass, Stained Glass
1970s Italian Space Age Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Metal, Steel, Chrome
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Crystal, Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1950s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Brass
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Mirrors
Mirror