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![Linteloo Bijou Adjustable Table Roderick Vos 4](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/b/bijou-adjustable-table/Linteloo-Bijou-Adjustable-Table-ContextGallery-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1565&s=c52a3170317275f49f3a6b6362818ac1 1565w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/b/bijou-adjustable-table/Linteloo-Bijou-Adjustable-Table-ContextGallery-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1000&s=7d7e46652dc0f599136070334d6d85af 1000w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/b/bijou-adjustable-table/Linteloo-Bijou-Adjustable-Table-ContextGallery-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=562df9a3b184542af85227d03c10574f 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/b/bijou-adjustable-table/Linteloo-Bijou-Adjustable-Table-ContextGallery-4.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=d204daada26e91819af97c978beedce9 300w)
by Roderick Vos
for Linteloo
Bijou Adjustable Table
![Indigenus Aarde Planters Context Gallery 14](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/a/aarde-planter/Indigenus-Aarde-Planters-ContextGallery-14.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=791&s=3197e79ab66e096f607589ead3c13f31 791w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/a/aarde-planter/Indigenus-Aarde-Planters-ContextGallery-14.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=3457557b8a49a2a90762d0bc34eaae65 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/a/aarde-planter/Indigenus-Aarde-Planters-ContextGallery-14.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=2c02324bdd992d4a30f4c2b390f66652 300w)
by Sebastian Herkner
for Indigenus Planters
Aarde Planter
![Ginepro Table Antonio Citterio B Bitalia 37](https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/g/ginepro-outdoor-table/Ginepro-Table-Antonio-Citterio-BBitalia-37.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1565&s=1c32f82280976d3ae5e584673874ef18 1565w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/g/ginepro-outdoor-table/Ginepro-Table-Antonio-Citterio-BBitalia-37.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=1000&s=b0de6ec7792505616909b6b1c112331e 1000w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/g/ginepro-outdoor-table/Ginepro-Table-Antonio-Citterio-BBitalia-37.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=600&s=5ff0bbe1e1d1d7e2d49e61aed21c6378 600w, https://context-gallery.imgix.net/products/g/ginepro-outdoor-table/Ginepro-Table-Antonio-Citterio-BBitalia-37.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=clip&q=60&w=300&s=8e4af7d66d9cddc9d3046824f4a0b613 300w)
by Antonio Citterio
for B&B Italia Outdoor
Ginepro Outdoor Table
More in Gio Ponti
View All![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)
Leggera Outdoor Chair
![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)