GIo Ponti "grissinato" bar cabinet made of oak, Italy, 1940s

About the Item

Bar cabinet with shelves and doors in oak wood, Italian craftsmanship from the 1940s, designed by Gio Ponti. This oak furniture, a perfect addition to a reception area or a hospitality-focused lounge, stands out for its personality, immediately becoming the focal point of the space it occupies. Featuring a central open compartment, divided by a shelf, designed to accommodate bottles and glasses, and two side doors useful for storing everything necessary for cocktail and aperitif service and preparation. Its unusual and almost architectural form evokes the image of a grand fireplace, akin to an open fire mouth in the room's wall, capable of creating a convivial atmosphere with just the flicker of burning logs. To further accentuate this suggestion, an electric bulb is placed inside the cabinet. This bar cabinet holds particular significance as it belongs to a specific period in the production of Milanese architect Gio Ponti, who was already active and established in the early 20th century. A distinctive feature of Ponti's furnishings is the vertical edge fluting that adorns the entire front part of this cabinet, a precise aesthetic choice evident in all archival photos documenting Ponti's production of the period, particularly in the furniture he designed and installed in the premises of the University of Padua starting from 1938. Further similarities can be found by comparing this cabinet with those illustrated in the Casa e Giardino series catalogs, a selection of Ponti's signature furniture. The refined decoration of the cabinet's two doors, featuring a fine geometric wooden panel, is the same as that used for the finishes of desks and operational furniture designed for Milanese offices by the Ferrania company in 1939. Due to its sophistication, this furniture stands, like every work by Ponti, ambitious in intent and innovative in solutions. Choosing it today, nearly a century after its design, is to recognize how the exceptional nature of the Milanese architect's figure is still capable of engaging with contemporary sensibilities. The cabinet is offered professionally restored and accompanied by expertise from the Ponti Archive, guaranteeing its authenticity. Its dimensions are: 175 x 45 x 105.

Creator:

Gio Ponti (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 41.34 in (105 cm)Width: 68.9 in (175 cm)Depth: 17.72 in (45 cm)

Style:

Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Brass,Oak

Place of Origin:

Italy

Period:

1940-1949

Date of Manufacture:

1940s

Condition:

Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use.

Seller Location:

Chiavari, IT

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU6764238564802

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Gio Ponti

An architect, furniture and industrial designer and editor, Gio Ponti was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century Italian modernism.

Ponti (1891–1979) 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.

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