Gio Ponti - Design New York Wednesday, December 14, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    Laura Falconi, Gio Ponti: Interior, Objects, Drawings, 1920-1976, Milan, 2010, p. 174 for a similar example

  • Catalogue Essay

    According to the Gio Ponti Archives, the present unique sofa is most likely the predecessor of a sofa designed by Ponti for Altamira in 1953. As was often the case, works designed by Ponti for private commissions served as inspiration for his later serial productions. The refinement of the present sofa is noteworthy for the combination of structural stability with the thinness and flexibility of its seat and back.

  • Artist Biography

    Gio Ponti

    Italian • 1891 - 1979

    Among the most prolific talents to grace twentieth-century design, Gio Ponti defied categorization. Though trained as an architect, he made major contributions to the decorative arts, designing in such disparate materials as ceramics, glass, wood and metal. A gale force of interdisciplinary creativity, Ponti embraced new materials like plastic and aluminum but employed traditional materials such as marble and wood in original, unconventional ways.

    In the industrial realm, he designed buildings, cars, machinery and appliances — notably, the La Cornuta espresso machine for La Pavoni — and founded the ADI (Industrial Designer Association). Among the most special works by Gio Ponti are those that he made in collaboration with master craftsmen such as the cabinetmaker Giordano Chiesa, the illustrator Piero Fornasetti and the enamellist Paolo de Poli.

    View More Works

222

Unique sofa

1940s
Stained oak, suede.
32 5/8 x 67 3/4 x 34 1/4 in. (83 x 172 x 87 cm)
Together with a certificate of authenticity from the Gio Ponti Archives.

Estimate
$16,000 - 24,000 

Sold for $20,000

Design

14 December 2011
New York