An architect, furniture and industrial designer and editor, Gio Ponti was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century Italian modernism.
Ponti designed thousands of furnishings and products — from cabinets, mirrors 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.
Ponti's 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, which was 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.
Find a range of vintage Gio Ponti desks, dining chairs, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
20th Century, Gio Ponti for Cassina pair of Wooden Gueridòn
By Cassina, Gio Ponti
Located in Turin, Turin
An eclectic personality, from his early days he was active in the fields of architecture, painting, graphics and set design. He graduated in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic i...
Metal
$1,591Sale Price|20% Off
H 18.9 in W 29.53 in D 29.53 in
Gio Coffee Table Ponti ''tripod'' of the 1950s 20th century
By Gio Ponti
Located in Palermo, IT
This coffee table designed by Giò Ponti embodies the timeless elegance and innovation of 20th-century Italian design. Featuring a tripod frame with a central key holder support in pa...
Brass
$27,000 / set
H 27 in Dm 15 in
Pair of 20th Century Jean Michel-Frank Design Iron Guéridons Tables by Comte
By Comte S.A., Jean-Michel Frank
Located in North Miami, FL
Pair of mid-20th century wrought iron guéridon tables designed by Jean Michel-Frank for the company Comte S.A. By: Jean-Michel Frank, Comte S.A. Material: metal, iron, wrought iron,...
Metal, Iron, Wrought Iron, Sheet Metal
$12,500 / set
H 21 in W 20 in D 20 in
Fine Pair of French Bronze and Malachite Directoire Gueridons Mid 20th Century
Located in Dallas, TX
A fine pair of early to mid 20th century French gilt bronze and malachite topped gueridon cigarette tables.
Malachite, Bronze
20th Century Guéridon by Maison Jansen
By Maison Jansen
Located in Paris, FR
A guéridon by Maison Jansen, made for the Hotel George V in Paris. Tripod base with double colonnettes in solid stainless steel and gilded brass; top ...
Travertine, Brass, Stainless Steel
Pair of 20th Century Gilt Bronze and Marble Gueridon Tables
Located in Bridgeport, CT
An extraordinary pair of Louis XVI style Gilt Bronze Gueridon tables featuring circular white marble tops and open lower shelves. Raised on tripods of saber legs with elegant and det...
Marble, Bronze
20th century French Art Deco Oak Gueridon, 1930s
Located in LEGNY, FR
Solid oak side gueridon, carefully restored by our team. This is a unique piece, ready to find its place in a living room, entryway, or kitchen. Solid oak (renowned for its strength...
Metal
An Early 20th Century Marble and Iron Gueridon
By Gilbert Poillerat
Located in London, GB
France, circa 1940 An early 20th century circular gueridon table with inset sienna marble top, with cross stretcher terminating in a gilded flower...
Siena Marble, Wrought Iron
Early 20th century French wrought iron gueridon column table
By Gilbert Poillerat
Located in STRASBOURG, FR
French early 20th century wrought iron column gueridon table, usually used to display a plant, vase or sculpture. Very good structural condition, some paint has chipped due to rust...
Wrought Iron
$1,984Sale Price|32% Off
H 38.59 in Dm 19.3 in
20th Century Italian Empire Style Wooden Guéridon with Bronze and Marble Top
Located in Casale Monferrato, IT
20th Century Italian Empire Style Wooden Guéridon with Bronze and Marble Top. We present this splendid gueridon table, made in Italy in the second half of the 20th century. Made of s...
Marble, Bronze
Lebanese Copper Gueridon, Early 20th Century
Located in Isle Sur La Sorgue, Vaucluse
Finely-wrought copper gueridon from Tripoli, with an elegant stem base, and a decorated top. Stamped on the rim of the base.
Copper
20th Century, Italian Bronze Planter or Gueridon
Located in IT
20th century, Italian bronze planter or Gueridon Measures: cm W 56 x maximum diameter 51 x H 90. H on the floor of the wide 81 cm This refined planter was made in Italy, in Naples, towards the Early 20th Century in the style of «Retour d'Egypte». It consists of a tripod structure in finely chiselled gilded bronze and lacquered in tones. Each leg originates with scroll decorations and phytomorphic elements with golden details, supported by a sphinx with hairstyle, tail and golden wings. This sits on a curvilinear and wavy element decorated with golden ramage and a man’s head with a long beard of classic taste. The legs end with an injured foot and rest on a tripartite base that connects them. In the middle of each leg there is a bronze junction with curls and volutes that converges towards the others in the center, where a vertical element contributes to the momentum and gracefulness of the whole. The basin of the planter is in lacquered tin, with gold edges and reserves. The rising part of the tub has some holes that allow the breathability of the space. This tripod is inspired, with variations, to a famous model of the brothers Luigi and Antonio Manfredini, active in Milan at the beginning of the nineteenth century, financed by the viceroy of Italy Eugenio de Beauharnais, adopted son of Napoleon Bonaparte, for the opening of the real manufacture of Eugenia. The Retour d'Egypte style was widely echoed in France and Europe and originated from General Bonaparte’s military campaign in Egypt in 1799. The fashion of the Egyptians had already in Italy found a previous interpreter in the engraver Giovan Battista Piranesi, but the vast diffusion that also had in the furniture the Egyptian ornament...
Metal, Bronze
Late 19th-Early 20th Century Directoire Style Bronze Gueridon
Located in Richmond, VA
Great, high quality late 19th-early 20th century Directoire style bronze gueridon with black polished granite top, paw feet and bronze...
Granite, Bronze
Exceptional Gio Ponti Tri-Leg Side Table
By Gio Ponti
Located in North Miami, FL
important table designed by Gio Ponti for I.S.A. Italy c1950's. Stained Beechwood with a clear glass top and brass tri-leg base. KEYWORD: FONTANARTE, GIO PONTI
Brass