Product Gallery
Video
Gio Ponti
Italy (1891–1979)
The Milanese polymath Gio Ponti believed that the quickest path to beauty was simplicity. This, in itself, was a radical idea, but the hundred buildings in 13 countries Ponti built in his 87 years proved him right. His style promoted comfort and emphasized a lightness of spirit and material. Never one to rest on his laurels, Ponti also founded and directed the legendary Domus magazine, which changed the course of 20th Century design by introducing a generation of Italian designers to the work and ideas of Le Corbusier, Mies Van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, and Charles and Ray Eames.
But this impact of his own work remains profound. His most famous skyscraper, the Pirelli Tower, took the au courant concrete-and-curtain wall block and faceted its sides, almost forming a smile. His residences often eschewed walls of glass for floating facades that illuminated like movie screens. Most of all, his industrial design embodied an unfussy faith in sensuality: his 1948 La Pavoni espresso machine curves in all the right places, as do his mid-century perfume bottles of Murano glass made in collaboration with Piero Fornasetti. Most successful of all remains is Superleggera Chair for Cassina, with a frame that bends backwards to soothe the sitter and a cane seat so lightweight a child could lift it, and did, in its joyful ad campaign.
More in Furniture
View All![Minne Dining Chair Piet Boon 4](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/m/minne-chair/Minne-Dining-Chair-Piet-Boon-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1565&s=552425c08300a4a5e4b30cdd4912fc6f 1565w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/m/minne-chair/Minne-Dining-Chair-Piet-Boon-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1000&s=6270fc69ee47c8c2a19be07bebad5876 1000w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/m/minne-chair/Minne-Dining-Chair-Piet-Boon-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=a2933f234d151b4ed0fe204d284b7a61 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/m/minne-chair/Minne-Dining-Chair-Piet-Boon-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=d3679c40c60fbd6c3f809c9a7daf48c1 300w)
by Piet Boon
for Piet Boon Studio
Minne Chair
![Modular Imagination Low Table Virgil Abloh Cassina 8](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/m/modular-imagination/Modular-Imagination-Low-Table-Virgil-Abloh-Cassina-8.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=900&s=d5db69f21f97815478d6b89e838d2ee9 900w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/m/modular-imagination/Modular-Imagination-Low-Table-Virgil-Abloh-Cassina-8.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=c576a491c9cc92c98d12ffc80e390da9 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/m/modular-imagination/Modular-Imagination-Low-Table-Virgil-Abloh-Cassina-8.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=4f8757baa20ed7d0441275dab118df2d 300w)
by Virgil Abloh
for Cassina
Modular Imagination
![Alcova 09 Bed 5](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/a/alcova-09-bed/Alcova-09-Bed-Antonio-Citterio-Maxalto-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1543&s=d05e4a6752b9bb95afc49eedec33d6be 1543w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/a/alcova-09-bed/Alcova-09-Bed-Antonio-Citterio-Maxalto-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1000&s=6a0e9613cf6d62815b010345623383b2 1000w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/a/alcova-09-bed/Alcova-09-Bed-Antonio-Citterio-Maxalto-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=25a7768b22f48ea80cd4de4c5f7b2e25 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/a/alcova-09-bed/Alcova-09-Bed-Antonio-Citterio-Maxalto-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=e1148db8bb1fe7dee54e4734a19d989f 300w)
by Antonio Citterio
for Maxalto
Alcova 09 Bed
More in Gio Ponti
View All![Leggera side chair Gio Ponti Cassina 5](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/l/leggera-chair/Leggera-side-chair-Gio-Ponti-Cassina-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1565&s=383d5b4a32f60e9d83008b977823ee4a 1565w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/l/leggera-chair/Leggera-side-chair-Gio-Ponti-Cassina-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1000&s=297325f08984e19371f871bf3bc4e393 1000w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/l/leggera-chair/Leggera-side-chair-Gio-Ponti-Cassina-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=2f23c4cfa748499f3e3c34b2876563b2 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/l/leggera-chair/Leggera-side-chair-Gio-Ponti-Cassina-5.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=21c0967b1a6f3e7cbaf562124c7a5697 300w)
Leggera Chair
![Leggera Outdoor Chair Gio Ponti Cassina 6](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/l/leggera-outdoor-chair/Leggera-Outdoor-Chair-Gio-Ponti-Cassina-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=681&s=c73462a057d55bd541aa6803011b8286 681w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/l/leggera-outdoor-chair/Leggera-Outdoor-Chair-Gio-Ponti-Cassina-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=c68fc72dcdcd315ad648e02e2501a8c6 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/l/leggera-outdoor-chair/Leggera-Outdoor-Chair-Gio-Ponti-Cassina-6.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=4c72841443aa8cdb03aa215a2725a0f8 300w)