Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass

An architect, furniture and industrial designer and editor, Giò Ponti was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century Italian Modernism. Ponti designed thousands of furnishings and products — from cabinets, lamps and chairs to ceramics and coffeemakers — and his buildings, including the brawny Pirelli Tower (1956) in his native Milan, and the castle-like Denver Art Museum (1971), were erected in 14 countries. Through Domus, the magazine he founded in 1928, Ponti brought attention to virtually every significant movement and creator in the spheres of modern art and design.
The questing intelligence Ponti brought to Domus is reflected in his work: as protean as he was prolific, Ponti’s style can’t be pegged to a specific genre. In the 1920s, as artistic director for the Tuscan porcelain maker Richard Ginori, he fused old and new; his ceramic forms were modern, but decorated with motifs from Roman antiquity. In pre-war Italy, modernist design was encouraged, and after the conflict, Ponti — along with designers such as Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini, Marco Zanuso — found a receptive audience for their novel, idiosyncratic work. Ponti’s typical furniture forms from the period, such as the wedge-shaped Distex chair, are simple, gently angular, and colorful; equally elegant and functional. In the 1960s and ’70s, Ponti’s style evolved again as he explored biomorphic shapes, and embraced the expressive, experimental designs of Ettore Sottsass Jr., Joe Colombo and others.
His signature furniture piece — the one by which he is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Germany’s Vitra Design Museum and elsewhere — is the sleek Superleggera chair, produced by Cassina starting in 1957. (The name translates as “superlightweight” — advertisements featured a model lifting it with one finger.) Ponti had a playful side, best shown in a collaboration he began in the late 1940s with the graphic artist Piero Fornasetti. Ponti furnishings were decorated with bright finishes and Fornasetti's whimsical lithographic transfer prints of things such as butterflies, birds or flowers; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possesses a 1950 secretary from their Architetturra series, which feature case pieces covered in images of building interiors and facades. The grandest project Ponti and Fornasetti undertook, however, lies on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean: the interiors of the luxury liner Andrea Doria, which sank in 1956.
Widely praised retrospectives at the Queens Museum of Art in 2001 and at the Design Museum London in 2002 sparked a renewed interest in Ponti among modern design aficionados. (Marco Romanelli’s monograph written for the London show, offers a fine overview of Ponti’s work.) Today, a wide array of Ponti’s designs are snapped up by savvy collectors who want to give their homes a touch of Italian panache and effortless chic.
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Alpaca
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Metal
1960s Spanish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Enamel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Porcelain
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Metal
1950s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Stainless Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Stainless Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Stainless Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Stainless Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Stainless Steel
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Metal
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Blown Glass
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Alpaca
Mid-20th Century Sicilian Art Deco Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Stainless Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Stainless Steel
1960s Italian Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1950s Italian Other Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Italian Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Silver Plate
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Sterling Silver
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Porcelain
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Silver Plate
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1920s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1950s Italian Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Metal, Silver
1920s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Porcelain
1970s Italian Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Steel
1920s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Silver Plate
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Glass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Silver Plate
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Sterling Silver
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Metal
1960s Italian Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic, Porcelain
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1970s Italian Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Metal
1920s Italian Art Deco Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Sterling Silver
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Silver Plate
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
1960s Italian Modern Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Porcelain
1960s Italian Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
1960s Italian Vintage Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Silver
Early 20th Century Italian Gio Ponti Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass
Ceramic