Also available as Art Edition (No. 11,000) including an exclusive, square format reproduction of the Arlecchino coffee table and a set of four numbered ocean liner interior prints.
To study Gio Pontis prolific body of work is to appreciate the clear, unifying vision behind a complex creative universe. A synthesis of the arts, his creations expand intuitively with the Italian grandeur and studied lightness that defined his iconic style. Pontis rare capacity to move seamlessly between scales allowed him to approach the design of a teaspoon with the same conviction as he did an entire city. He was as much an architect and designer as he was a publisher, poet, and man. A treasure in its own regard, his contribution is also a distinctive landmark of Italys mid-century Renaissance and the modernist values it sought to realize.
This is the most comprehensive account of Pontis work to date, unprecedented in scale and scope. It tracks the development of his oeuvre over 6 decades, with 136 projects indexed and reproduced in high resolution, each object framed by the context in which Ponti had created it. Like windows onto his elusive life, unpublished materials and candid imagery create new dialogues between his famous masterpieces and his lesser-known feats. A rich layer of texts, featuring an extensive biographical essay by Stefano Casciani, was produced in close collaboration with the Gio Ponti Archives offering an intimate insight on his lifes work. Materializing Pontis core philosophy of modernity, this book presents architecture as a performing object, a "self-illuminating" stage for his humanistic art de vivre and boundless creativity.
Recenzijos
TASCHEN comes through with Gio Ponti Think of it not as a book but as a vehicle for an incredible journey. * The Los Angeles Times * the iconic Italian architect and designers greatest works. * eveningstandard.co.uk * a fascinating glimpse into the life and vast catalog of work of Italian architect Gio Ponti. * fastcompany.com * This prodigious volume features unpublished materials and candid imagery offering exciting new insight into both his well-known masterpieces and more obscure feats alike. * surfacemag.com * Gio Ponti offers a technicolor glimpse into the life and work of the godfather of Milanese design. * interviewmagazine.com * Gio Ponti aims to be the final say about the designers work and importance. * architectmagazine.com * an absolute beauty about the refined Italian architect-designer who defined a vein of elegant, uncontroversial mid-century chic. * The Financial Times * a tour de force investigation of the designers oeuvre. * architecturaldigest.com * Theres an irony here, that a prince of lightness such as Ponti should be remembered with something so massive, but its hard to do justice to his output in any other way It successfully captures Pontis spirit. * The Observer * The book is full of revelations. But for those who know Ponti for his architecture and his furniture, the real surprise is the ways they came together in rooms that display his seemingly endless supply of creativity. * 1stdibs.com * The most resistant element is not wood, is not stone, is not steel, is not glass. The most resistant element in building is art. Lets make something very beautiful. * Gio Ponti *
Brian Kish is a 20th-century Italian architecture and design historian, with a focus on BBPR, Caccia Dominioni, Gardella, and Ponti. He curated, in 2001, the first US exhibition on Gio Ponti and wrote for both Entryways of Milan and Gio Ponti Archi-Designer (M.A.D. Paris).
Fabio Marino is an architectural historian and researcher at the Polytechnic of Milan. He investigates contemporary architecture and its connection to Italian Design of the 1950s and 1960s. He has coauthored various books on Italian Design.
Widely known as a poet and artist, Lisa Licitra Ponti (19222019) flanked her father Gio Ponti at Domus, becoming Managing Editor until 1979, while also contributing to Stile. In 1990, she edited the important monograph: Gio Ponti. The Complete Work, 19231978.
Photographer, artist, and curator Salvatore Licitra created the Gio Ponti Archives in the studio of his grandfather Gio Ponti in 1996. Notable curated exhibitions are Gio Ponti Archi-Designer at the Museč des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, in 2018, and Gio Ponti: Loving Architecture at the MAXXI in Rome, in 2019.
Stefano Casciani is an Italian writer and designer. The innovative inspiration of his own work has been recognized with awards such as the Compasso dOro 2001. Managing Editor of Domus from 2000 to 2011, he has been Editor and Publisher of disegno magazine since 2012.
Based in Berlin, freelance editor and art director Karl Kolbitz worked with Mario Testino and Wolfgang Tillmans for many years, before founding his own creative practice focusing on the development and design of publications, such as Entryways of Milan and Gio Ponti.
