Gio Ponti - Design London Wednesday, April 24, 2013 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    ‘Augustus’ transatlantic ocean liner, Italy, 1950

  • Literature

    Paolo Piccione, Gio Ponti Le Navi: il progetto degli interni navali 1948-1953, Milan, 2007, p. 33, fig. 41

  • 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

32

Pair of small side tables, designed for the First Class Ballroom of the ‘Augustus’ transatlantic ocean liner

1950
Plastic-laminated wood, mahogany-veneered wood, mahogany, aluminium, cast metal, painted metal.
Each: 58 cm (22 7/8 in) high, 59.5 cm (23 3/8 in) diameter
Together with a certificate of authenticity from the Gio Ponti Archives (2).

Estimate
£5,000 - 7,000 

Sold for £52,500

Contact Specialist
designlondon@phillips.com
+ 44 20 7318 4019

Design

London 25 April 2013 2pm