Giulio Ponti - Design New York Tuesday, December 17, 2019 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Private collection, Rome

  • Exhibited

    "Eurodomus," Genoa, April 30-May 15, 1966

  • Literature

    "Italbed," Domus, no. 440, July 1966, p. 42
    "A Parigi 'Domus Formes Italiennes,'" Domus, no. 450, May 1967, p. 25
    Laura Falconi, ed., Gio Ponti: Interiors, Objects, Drawings, 1920-1976, Milan, 2010, p. 254

  • Catalogue Essay

    Giulio Ponti, the son of Gio Ponti, designed the present lot in 1966 for the Italian furniture manufacturer Italbed. This early design demonstrates Giulio Ponti’s affinity for bold colors and forms as well as for modular furniture. The present lot can function as a sofa with either a high or low seat based on its orientation and as a bunk bed when stacked. This design, as with many of the works by Giulio and Gio Ponti for Italbed, allowed the user to adapt the furniture to different spatial arrangements. Giulio showed this piece alongside his father’s work at the inaugural Eurodomus, an international exhibition of domestic furniture organized by Gio Ponti himself. Just as Gio Ponti promoted modern design through his magazine Domus, he hoped that this fair would persuade consumers to fill their homes with good design. All of the works were already in production or in prototype phases in an effort to show consumers the options that existed in the marketplace. As Giulio Ponti was not as prolific as his father, this is a very rare example of his work.

58

Rare sofa

circa 1966
Painted wood, fabric upholstery.
32 7/8 x 77 1/4 x 32 5/8 in. (83.5 x 196.2 x 82.9 cm)
Manufactured by Italbed, Pistoia, Italy.

Estimate
$12,000 - 18,000 

Contact Specialist

DesignNewYork@phillips.com
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Design

New York Auction 17 December 2019