GIO PONTI. The father of Italian design
After almost five years grappling with the idea of producing an episode on the father of Italian design, I am pleased to (finally!) present my profile of GIO PONTI, architect, designer, essayist, cultural organizer, polymath, and, quite frankly, the most influential Italian intellectual of the 20th century. Watch the episode here. In the new episo...
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How Gio Ponti’s Classic Brass Mirror Became a Designer Favorite
Italian maestro Gio Ponti wore many hats. And one oft-forgotten entry on the architect’s lengthy CV was his work as art director of FontanaArte, a decorative branch of the Italian glassmaker Luigi Fontana. The brand is best known for lighting, but one design has proved a sleeper hit: a curved brass mirror that has infiltrated today’s interiors. “It...
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Italy's 10 most iconic furniture designers
Although always the cradle of high-quality craftsmanship, Italy has been massively influential in the timeline of furniture design–especially throughout the 20th century. Between the 1920s and 1930s, Italian rationalism seamlessly formed a relation with the technical and aesthetic experimentations of the European avant-garde on one side and with th...
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Gio Ponti’s greatest designs, from chairs to churches
The Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti (1891-1979) is best known for his streamlined skyscraper the Pirelli Tower in Milan, Superleggera chairs and the Gran Madre di Dio cathedral in Taranto. But he also designed toilets, knives and forks; fitted out cruise liners and hotels; and co-founded architecture and design magazines. A new book titled...
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