Gio Ponti Italian Coffee or Side Table by I.S.A. Italia circa 1950 i
View Similar Items
Gio Ponti Italian Coffee or Side Table by I.S.A. Italia circa 1950 i
About the Item
- Creator:Gio Ponti (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 15.75 in (40.01 cm)Width: 19.75 in (50.17 cm)Depth: 19.75 in (50.17 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1959
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU819819597432
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.
Find a range of Gio Ponti furniture on 1stDibs.
- Travertine Marble Cube Side Table or Coffee Table Design PavilionLocated in Chicago, ILItalian travertine cube shaped side table, end table or coffee table. Also a great drinks table. Design with rustic edge Pavilion Antiques and 20th c...Category
2010s American Organic Modern Side Tables
MaterialsTravertine
- Jacques Adnet and Guidette Carbonell Ceramic and Iron Coffee or Side TableBy Jacques Adnet, Guidette CarbonellLocated in Chicago, ILJacques Adnet and Guidette Carbonell coffee table or side table. Use as a side table or the perfect small coffee table. Hand wrought iron base with six inset glazed ceramic tiles wit...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsWrought Iron
- Travertine Marble Rectangular Side Table Drinks Table Coffee Table Chiseled EdgeLocated in Chicago, ILItalian travertine rectangular tall side tables, end tables, coffee table or a great drinks table. Contemporary bespoke design rustic edge by Pavilion Antiques...Category
2010s American Organic Modern Side Tables
MaterialsTravertine
- Roger Thibier French Gilded Iron Side Tables or Coffee TableBy Roger ThibierLocated in Chicago, ILRoger Thibier gilded iron side tables or pair them as a small coffee table. Move them around to make a modular coffee table or side tables. Patina as sh...Category
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsIron
- Poolkes Signed Belgian Coffee or Side Table with Etched Patinated Copper TopBy W. Poolkes 1Located in Chicago, ILA large etched abstract scene Belgian signed coffee table on a black wood base. The undulating abstract design in copper and brass and varying shades of darkened copper, black and r...Category
Vintage 1970s Belgian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsCopper
$2,800 Sale Price37% Off - French Round Sycamore Wood Coffee or Side Table in Style of Andre ArbusBy André ArbusLocated in Chicago, ILRound French coffee table or side table in the style of Andre Arbus. Sycamore veneer sun burst decorative top and with solid Sycamore legs wi...Category
Vintage 1940s French Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsSycamore
- Coffee or Side Boomerang Table Style Gio Ponti Wood, Italy, circa 1955By Gio PontiLocated in Vienna, ATWooden boomerang table in very good condition Italy, circa 1955. Stylish table in very good original condition made from birch wood and brass; tha table top has a special coating ...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Midcentury Organic Shaped Coffee Table in the Manner of Gio Ponti, circa 1950sBy Gio PontiLocated in London, GBa beautifully shaped wooden coffee or side table on black painted metal legs ending on hammered brass feet. The red half sphere linking the top to the legs is very unusual and avant ...Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal, Brass
- Cocktail Table by Gio PontiBy Gio PontiLocated in Los Angeles, CALow hourglass table by Gio Ponti with original green glass top. Made in Milan circa 1940s. Includes a certificate of authenticity from the Gio Po...Category
Vintage 1940s Italian Side Tables
MaterialsOak, Glass
$22,000 - Gio Ponti Round Coffee Table in Walnut Wood Italian Manifacture 1940sBy Gio PontiLocated in Montecatini Terme, ITRound shaped coffee table with three legs, in walnut wood and brass details. Attribuited to Gio Ponti, Italian manufacture from the late 1940s to the early 1950s Gio Ponti was an icon of the modernist movement: the Italian designer, architect, artist and publisher contributed significantly to the worlds of architecture and design with his extensive work in fine furniture and ceramics, education, office and residential buildings, and everything in between. Giovanni, known as Gio Ponti was born in 1891 in Milan. It was there that he spent his childhood, and in 1921 he began to study architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. From 1923 to 1930 he served as the artistic director of the Richard-Ginori porcelain factory. In 1927, Ponti started his first architectural office, together with Emilio Lancia, and in 1928 he started the magazine Domus, which is still regarded as one of the most influential European magazines for architecture and design. He was also very influential during the period as a curator of the Milan Triennale. After his collaboration with Emilio Lancia had come to an end, upon completion of the Torre Rasini, he began to work as an architect together with the engineers Antonio Fornaroli and Eugenio Soncini...Category
Vintage 1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Vintage Irregular Shaped Wood Veneer Coffee Table Ascribable to Gio Ponti, ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Bresso, LombardyMade in Italy, 1950s. This irregular shaped coffee table is made in cherry veneer. It is a vintage item, therefore it might show slight t...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsCherry
- Gio Ponti Pair of Geometric Nesting Tables with Mirrored Tops, Italy, 1950'sBy Gio Ponti, Pietro ChiesaLocated in New York, NYGio Ponti (1891 - 1979) and Pietro Chiesa (1892 - 1948) A handsome pair of asymmetrical side tables by Gio Ponti and Pietro Chiesa for Fontan...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMirror, Walnut
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Barnaba Fornasetti’s Hallucinatory House Has His Father’s Spirit
Behind a nondescript facade in northeastern Milan is the magical residence of Barnaba Fornasetti. It's a shrine to the style developed by his design-legend father, which still defies categorization.
Billy Cotton Layers His Interiors with Lived-In Comfort
The Brooklyn-based designer is adept at styles ranging from austere to over-the-top, espousing an architectural, detail-oriented approach also evident in his line of furniture and lighting.