Gio Ponti Polsino Lamp
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Gio Ponti Polsino Lamp
About the Item
- Creator:
- Dimensions:Height: 15.25 in (38.74 cm)Width: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)Depth: 6.5 in (16.51 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1969
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU90801699492
Gio Ponti
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.
Guzzini
Guzzini is often mistakenly thought to be the name of a lighting designer active in the 1960s and 1970s. But in fact the label belongs to a lighting manufacturing company that was founded by six Guzzini brothers — Raimondo, Giovanni, Virgilio, Giuseppe, Adolfo and Giannunzio, who were inspired by the 1950 film Harvey starring James Stewart.
Compounding the historical record even further, it seems that the Guzzini company rebranded many times in the 20th century, going by, at various points, Harvey Creazioni, Harvey Guzzini, Guzzini, iGuzzini and Illuminazione Guzzini. Harvey Creazioni was originally founded in 1959 in Recanati (on the east-central coast of Italy) by Raimondo, focusing on the production of copper-plated decorative objects. Four years later, in June 1963, the six brothers joined together and established Harvey Creazioni di Guzzini, expanding production to include pendant lighting, sconces, table lamps and floor lamps.
The brothers employed architect-designer Luigi Massoni — who was introduced to the Guzzini brothers by leading plastic importer Maurizio Adreani — as head of design, branding, public relations and advertising. Famous Harvey Guzzini designs include Massoni and Luciano Buttura's Mushroom table lamp (1965) as well as the in-house designed Arc floor lamp (1968), Faro table lamp (1970) and Toledo table lamp (1973). Studio 6G, an interning design team, developed the collectible Clan table lamp (1968); and designers Ermanno Lampa and Sergio Brazzoli were responsible for the Nastro series (1970), Orione pendant (1970), Sirio table lamp (1970), Alba floor lamp (1973), Albanella table lamp (1973) and Alf series (1976). Around 1976, Harvey Guzzini ceased the production of copper-plated items to concentrate on lighting made almost exclusively from methacrylate plastic (acrylic). The company also dabbled in furniture production, collaborating with Yugoslavian furniture producer Meblo, located in Nova Gorica in present-day Slovenia.
In 1967–68, the company exhibited at Domus: Formes Italiennes in the Galeries Lafayette in Paris under the name Design House (DH), where the company featured Gio Ponti’s Media lamp. A retail outlet was opened in central Milan under the name Harvey Guzzini-DH in 1969, situated literally and figuratively among the best known Italian design houses. In 1974, the company rebranded once more as iGuzzini, adding Illuminazione in 1981, which still exists today with headquarters in Recanati, Italy.
Find a collection of vintage Guzzini furniture today on 1stDibs.
- Gio Ponti, Polsino Table Lamp, Italy 1960sBy Gio Ponti, GuzziniLocated in Renens, CHA very rare Polsino lamp designed by Gio Ponti for Guzzini during the late 1960s: The table lamp has a tubular design built up with an acrylic diffusor and a chromed metal backpla...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
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- Pair of Gio Ponti Polsino Table Lamps for Guzzini 1960sBy Gio PontiLocated in London, EnglandRare Gio Ponti 'Polsino' lamps, white and orange plexiglass with steel. No structural damage. Some scratches to plastic. Minimal tarnishing to steel handles which can swivel 180 degr...Category
Vintage 1960s Table Lamps
MaterialsSteel
- Rare Signed Pair Gio Ponti Polsino Black White Table Lamps Acrylic Guzzini 1967By Gio Ponti, D. H. GuzziniLocated in Nierstein am Rhein, DESuper rare signed pair Gio Ponti "Polsino" table lamps with black and white curved acrylic / plexiglass / plastic shades with chromed steel handle, designed by Gio Ponti and executed...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal, Chrome, Steel
- Pair of Gio Ponti Candelabra Fleche LampsBy Christofle, Gio PontiLocated in Hanover, MAPair of early edition Gio Ponti candelabra fleche lamps, an original cornucopia design of interlaced tapered horns framing a single arrow, imagine...Category
Vintage 1950s French Art Deco Table Lamps
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$6,500 / set - Pair of Lamps Attributed to Gio PontiBy Gio PontiLocated in New York, NYPair of nickeled brass lamps Vintage shades must be changed.Category
Antique 1660s Italian Table Lamps
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- Gio Ponti Bilia Lamp for Fontana Arte, Italy 1970sBy Gio Ponti, Fontana ArteLocated in London, GBGio Ponti (1881-1979) was a Milanese architect, industrial and furniture designer, artist and publisher. He was a pivotal figure in the Italian design and manufacturing industry founding Il Labirinto with Lancia, Buzzi, Marelli, Venini and Chiesa in order to produce high-quality furniture and objects. He also founded Domus magazine which helped contextualise and promote the work of Italian designers and manufacturers around the world. Throughout his career he designed many icons but is perhaps most known for the symbol of modern Milan, the Pirelli skyscraper, in 1956. His furniture has always drawn deeply from Italian traditions and given them a modern edge. This gorgeous lamp is a great example of that. Made from two elements, a textured green aluminium conical base which rises into a delicate opal...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
$7,458 Sale Price20% Off
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