Gio Ponti had a penchant for certain materials such as ceramics and glass, which he designed and used in his architecture as he considered them to have exciting expressive potential. He also favoured certain artists such as Massimo Campigli, Giorgio Morandi and Fausto Melotti, whose art with ancient echoes shaped a new modernity.

Between the 1940s and 1950s, the Milanese architect developed a synthesis between art and craftsmanship thanks to his collaboration with the historic glassworks of Paolo Venini, with whom he worked on a series of anthropomorphic bottles with graceful and elegant feminine features, like miniature sartorial mannequins. This “cheerful game”, as Domus called it (Domus 231, 1948) was so successful it represented the art of glassmaking at the “Italian Design” exhibition that travelled to the USA between 1950 and 1953.