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Pair of Armchairs by Gio Ponti From Hotel Parco Dei Principe Italy1950's Pair of Arm Chairs by Gio Ponti for Cassina, Milan from the Hotel Parco Dei Principe Sorrento, circa 1958 Italy Note: We have a very small stock of these Armchairs so please enquire. Gio Ponti (1891-1979) Italy Gio Ponti was born in 1891 in Milan where he spent his childhood and enrolled for an architecture degree at the Politecnico. In 1921 he graduated having intrupted his studies during World War One. In 1923, instead of practising as an architect, Ponti became the Artistic Director of Richard-Ginori, the ceramics manufacturer for which he won the `Grand Prix` at the 1925 Paris Expo. From 1923 to 1930, he turned the company into a role model of industrial design excellence by decorating simple ceramic forms with elegant neo-classical motifs. `Industry is the style of the 20th century, its mode of creation,` are Ponti`s words. 1928 Ponti founded `Domus`, which he establishes as Europe`s most influential architecture and design magazine. in 1941 Ponti quit `Domus` to found `Stile`, an Italian art and architecture magazine. In 1947 Ponti left `Stile` to resume the editorship of `Domus`. Ponti insisted that decoration and modern ideas were not incompatible. His ideas about blending the old and the new did have supporters - among them the fascists of the 1930s. Mussolini and his ministers were enthusiastic about all things new, especially if they preserved cultural identity, and Ponti`s writings on the "Italianness" of his homes Publication of `Amate L`Architettura`, a new version of a book of essays which orginated in Ponti`s 1940 pamphlet, `Architecture is a crystal`. In 1933 Ponti organised the 5th Triennale exhibition (originally in Monza) in Milan and his work extended to stage sets and costumes for the opera house `La Scala` in Milan. Ponti was actively involved in the Industrial Design Association (ADI) and was one of the organizers of the Golden Compass promoted by the La Rinascente department store. fFom 1936 to 1961 he was Professor on the permanent staff of the Faculty of Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. In 1934 he received the title of Commander of the Royal Vasa order in Stockholm being the art prize of the Accademia d`Italia. He also received an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London, Ponti dis-regarded conventional boundaries and explored a profound analogy between different fields of art and design, ranging from the minor arts and furniture to overarching architectural schemes. In 1946 he started a three year project to design Murano glassware for Venini. 1948 he unveiled the La Pavoni coffee machine. In the same year he began a four year commission to restore four Italian cruise liners with Nino Zoncada. Ponti`s naval furnishings are particularly interesting (Conte Grande, Andrea Doria, Giulio Cesare) During the 1950`s his work became even more innovative, examples include the so-called `typical solutions`, the `organized walls`, the `furnished windows`, the `instrumental head board`,and the `miniambiental lodging` In 1953 he launched the series `P` sanitaryware for Ideal Standard and the angular `Distex` armchair for Cassina. 1957 saw the design of the SuperLeggera chair for Cassina, a lighter version of 1955`s leggera chair (inspired by the traditional Chiavari chairs) . In the 1950`s he collaborated with Fornasetti (the Italian decorator renowned for his surreal, neo-classical style) on interiors and furniture design. Ponti also collaborated with Fornacetti on the interiors of the Casino at San Remo which they decorated with enormous playing card motifs. Another collaboration with For was the Nancetti - Vembi-Burroughs offices in Genoa and Turin, where they emblazoned the furniture with intricate images of pens, pencils, sheets of paper and early computers - Ponti and Arcihitecture In 1926 he designed his first house on via Randaccio in Milan. 1934 he completed work on the Mathematics Department at Rome University and in 1936 the construction of the first Monte Catini headquarters in Milan. Italy was by now rebuilding itself after the war, nowhere more so than in the bombed out cities of the North, Genoa, Turin and Milan. 1955 saw the completion of Villa Planchart, or the `Butterfly House`in Caracas, Venezuela. 1956 saw the construction of the Pirelli Tower in Milan. In 1958 he designed the Alitalia offices in New York. Ponti remained productive throughout the 1960s and 1970s - In 1960 Ponti built Villa Nemazee in Tehran in the same `joie de vivre` style as the two houses in Caracas, Villa Planchart and Villa Arreaza. in 1964 Ponti designes the interior of Hotel Parco dei Principe in Rome and its (recently restored) sister hotel in Sorrento. In 1964 Ponti designed San Francesco church and 1967 San Carlo chapel. In Milan, in 1970, the construction of Taranto Cathedral and in 1972 the Denver Art Museum. Ponti died in 1979 in Milan.
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