Milan‘s ADI Design Museum will soon announce an opening date for Spazio Gio Ponti, a 700 square-metre mezzanine built from steel and wood. The gio ponti exhibition inside will display the work and writings of Ponti, the architect and designer who founded the magazine Domus in 1928. Historian Fulvio Irace is the curator. Architect Maurizio Milan designed the structure, and Matteo Vercelloni shaped the interior.
Construction is still underway. Meanwhile, a New York exhibition and a new collection of small, sculptural objects from Molteni&C are bringing Ponti’s ideas back into view. Ponti’s reach was broad. He designed the Pirelli Tower in Milan, and his buildings were erected in 14 countries.
Ponti’s sense of everyday Italian design has plenty of company today, and Carlo Ratti’s everyday objects that reveal design secrets shows how ordinary items can carry that same craft.
For readers who want to see his work in person, six sites across Europe and the United States are worth a visit or a closer look.
Designing Optimism: a gio ponti exhibition at Donzella, New York
Paul Donzella’s gallery specialises in postwar Italian design, so it suits a show about Ponti’s outlook. Co-curator Brian Kish, a leading Ponti scholar, assembled more than 80 pieces for the gio ponti exhibition in wood, silver, enamelled metal and ceramic. The lounge chairs shown here were made for the Parco dei Principi hotels.
The gio ponti exhibition also includes architectural drawings and letters that trace Ponti’s design thinking. The show runs through December 22.
A monograph from Taschen
Taschen’s Gio Ponti volume opens with a marble composite floor pattern Ponti designed. It appeared in a 1957 issue of Domus. The book covers six decades of work, with essays and images of all 136 of his projects.
Readers can choose a regular or XL edition. Both are sold in Taschen stores and online.
Villa Ponti Bellavista, Civenna
Built in the 1960s on the shore of Lake Como, this villa in Civenna is now a rental. Its main entertaining rooms recall the curved, ocean-liner style that Ponti favoured. The house sits on three secluded acres and receives sunlight throughout the day.
Its caretakers are still trying to confirm how much Ponti shaped the design. The original sketch carries the signatures of two designers from his Milan studio, so the question remains open. From the main bedrooms, guests look across the pool toward the Alps.
Concattedrale Gran Madre di Dio, Taranto
Few travellers include Taranto on a tour of Puglia. That may change once they see Ponti’s co-cathedral, finished in 1970. Its most striking feature replaces a bell tower with a white concrete sail, roughly 40 metres tall, pierced with a pattern of openings. The sail draws on the city’s maritime history.
Bronze doors open into a vaulted interior that rises to an 11-metre dome. Green accents echo the reflecting pools outside, which tie the building to the surrounding ground.
Italian Gardens Café, London
In Kensington Gardens, guests eat brunch on Ponti’s Leggera chairs, which Cassina produced in 1952. The seats have tapered wooden legs and are joined with exceptional care. They suit the café’s tongue-and-groove wall panelling.
Seats near the window face the fountains in Kensington Gardens. The menu includes a ricotta toast with fig and prosciutto.
Parco dei Principi, Sorrento
Ponti designed this hotel on the Amalfi Coast in the early 1960s. He described his approach in one line: “Blue are the blankets, the headboards, the doors: white the rest.” He also planned the furnishings, which included blue armchairs, stools and headboards, along with Leggera chairs.
Blue formica panels cover the woodwork. Pebble inlays became one of the property’s defining features. Ponti designed 30 ceramic tile motifs, and each guest room received its own floor pattern. The pool is shaped like a lake with small islands to swim around.
Ponti’s tile motifs at Parco dei Principi show how patterned floors shape a room, and this year’s bold Italian tile trends from Cersaie bring that same ceramic ambition up to date.
Why the Leggera chair still sells
The Leggera’s story begins in the 1950s, when Ponti, Cesare Cassina and the company’s craftsmen worked to make the frame lighter without sacrificing strength. The Superleggera, produced by Cassina from 1957, is the most famous result. Its name means “superlightweight,” and early advertisements showed a model lifting it with one finger.
Collectors still pursue the chair. According to 1stDibs, the average selling price for a Gio Ponti Leggera on that platform is $5,500. Prices typically range from $495 at the low end to $33,450 for the most expensive examples.
Ponti’s work rewards a visit in person, whether at a gio ponti exhibition or at one of these six sites. Each shows a different side of a designer who worked across buildings, furniture and print, and whose optimism still reads as current.
H/T thespaces.com
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the Spazio Gio Ponti exhibition in Milan?
Spazio Gio Ponti is being built as a 700 square-metre mezzanine at Milan’s ADI Design Museum. Construction was still underway when the article was written, and the opening date had not yet been announced.
How long does the Designing Optimism Gio Ponti exhibition run in New York?
The Designing Optimism exhibition at Paul Donzella’s gallery in New York runs through December 22. It includes more than 80 pieces in wood, silver, enamelled metal and ceramic, along with architectural drawings and letters.
How much does a Gio Ponti Leggera chair cost?
According to 1stDibs, the average selling price for a Gio Ponti Leggera is $5,500. Prices typically range from $495 at the low end to $33,450 for the most expensive examples.
Is there a Taschen book about Gio Ponti’s work?
Yes, Taschen publishes a Gio Ponti volume that covers six decades of his work and includes images of all 136 of his projects. Readers can choose a regular or XL edition, sold in Taschen stores and online.
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