Gio Ponti - Design London Tuesday, October 31, 2023 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Dulciora office, Milan
    Phillips, London, 'Modern Masters', 26 April 2017, lot 232
    Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above

  • Literature

    'Studio legale a Milano', Domus, no. 286, September 1953, p. 34
    Ugo La Pietra, ed., Gio Ponti: L’arte si innamora dell’industria, New York, 2009, pp. 170-71, fig. 359
    Laura Falconi, ed., Gio Ponti: Interiors, Objects, Drawings, 1920-1976, Milan, 2010, p. 243

  • 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

121

Twelve armchairs, from the Dulciora offices, Milan

circa 1950
Walnut, brass, fabric, for five.
Beech, brass, fabric, for seven.

Each: 94 x 56.3 x 56.6 cm (37 x 22 1/8 x 22 1/4 in.)
Likely manufactured Giordano Chiesa and by Cassina, Meda, Italy. Together with a certificate of expertise from the Gio Ponti Archives.

Estimate
£22,000 - 28,000 

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com

 

Design

London Auction 31 October 2023