Gio‘ Ponti “stile” Table Wood Glass, 1940, Italy
View Similar Items
Gio‘ Ponti “stile” Table Wood Glass, 1940, Italy
About the Item
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.
- Gio Ponti Coffee Table Wood Glass 1950 ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Milano, ITGio Ponti coffee table.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood, Glass
- Gio’ Ponti “ Stile “ Bedside Tables Brass Wood Glass 1950 ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Milano, ITGio ‘ Ponti “Stile “ bedside tables brass wood glass 1950 Italy.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Buffets
MaterialsBrass
- Gio Ponti Stile Sconces Brass Metal 1940 ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Milano, ITSconces.Category
Vintage 1940s Italian Other Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsBrass
$2,717 / set - Gio Ponti “Stile” Desk Wood Brass, 1950, ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Milano, ITGio Ponti “Stile” desk wood brass, 1950, Italy.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsWood
- Gio Ponti “Stile” Desk Wood Brass, 1950, ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Milano, ITGio Ponti “Stile” desk wood brass, 1950, Italy.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Gio’ Ponti Coffee Table Brass Wood Marbre, 1950, ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Milano, ITGio Ponti coffee table. Insieme al certificato GIO PONTI ARCHIVESCategory
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMarble
- 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
- Sidetable in the Manner of Gio Ponti Carved Wood Etched Glass Motive Italy 1940sBy Gio PontiLocated in Vienna, ATA side table from the 1940s in the manner of the Italian architect and star designer Gio Ponti. The furniture is made of pear wood with two circular original glass tops. The larger o...Category
Vintage 1940s Italian Art Deco Side Tables
MaterialsGlass, Pearwood
- Gio Ponti, Unique Coffee Table, Oak, Glass, Italy, c. 1937By Gio PontiLocated in High Point, NCA unique, oak and glass coffee table designed by Gio Ponti and possibly executed by Giordano Chiesa, Milan, Italy, circa 1937. Sold with a certificate of expertise from the Gio P...Category
Vintage 1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Oak
- Italian Gio Ponti Inspired Bronze and Glass Cocktail TableBy Gio Ponti, Romeo Rega, Maison Ramsay, Maison Jansen, Maison BaguèsLocated in Houston, TXItalian Gio Ponti inspired bronze and glass cocktail table. Italian Gio Ponti style bronze or brass cocktail table with an unusual etc...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass, Bronze
- Two-level Round Wood and Glass Italian Coffee Table Gio Ponti Style, 1950sBy Gio PontiLocated in Roma, ITTwo-level engraved wood and glass coffee table, it was designed in Italy during the 1950s in the style of Gio Ponti. It is made of a circular grooved wooden top that supports the fr...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Art Glass, Wood
- Wood Coffee Table in the Style of Gio Ponti Glass and Mahogany, 1950s, ItalyBy Gio PontiLocated in Rome, ITSplendid coffee table featuring a wooden structure and two shelves of different dimensions, which gives the whole table a trapezium shape. In the style of the Italian designer Gio Po...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
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.