Geo Ponti was born in 1891 in the rapidly expanding Italian city of Milan, which was to become the country’s thriving and style-conscious business centre. After setting his heart on a career in architecture at an early age, he enrolled on a degree course at Milan Polytechnic. His studies were interrupted during WWI when he fought with the Pontonier Corps for two years and was awarded a Military Cross. Rather than establishing himself as an architect immediately after his delayed graduation in 1921, Ponti joined the porcelain manufacturers Richard-Ginori in Doccia and created a range of ceramic wares decorated with striking, stylized, geometric patterns.

It was at Richard-Ginori that Ponti developed his interest in clean modern forms adorned with elegant Neo-classical-style decoration, a design concept that was to re-emerge in his later furniture. As many of his ceramic designs for Richard-Ginori were reproduced using printing technology, it also became apparent that Ponti did not shy away from mass-production. In fact, mass-produced commercial and industrial designs became a key element of his later work.

Despite winning a ‘Grand Prix’ for his ceramics at the 1925 Paris Expo, the designer was reluctant to limit himself to one creative area and by the mid-1930s he was working on large-scale architecture commissions such as the Mathematics building at Rome University. In the years to follow he would be responsible for the iconic 1956 Pirelli tower in Milan and the 1958 Alitalia offices in New York. As well as working on the structure of buildings, Ponti’s fascination with form and his unifying approach to design also lead him to develop new and exciting furniture for the interiors.

At the same time as working on diverse architectural and furniture design projects, Ponti was establishing his respected, long-running Domus magazine, which publicized his aesthetic beliefs and acted as record of his likes and dislikes. In 1941 Ponti left Domus to found a new magazine Stile, but returned to his previous publishing venture six years later to steer its editorial back to his exuberant vision of design.

This unusual, eclectic and decorative approach to design was at odds with the widely held contemporary belief among fashionable design leaders that modern forms should be rational and unadorned. In 1940, Ponti spotted the drawings of Piero Fornasetti (1913-88) and immediately asked the artist to produce patterns for his furniture. Designs were radically rich and ornate and were inspired by Classicalism and Surrealism, and often made use of the trompe l’oeil effect. One outstanding piece, now worth £30,000-40,0000, was a Ponti and Fornasetti bureau bookcase decorated with an architectural scene in black and cream and finished with transparent lacquer. A more modest chair might be worth £3,000-4,000. In total, Fornasetti was to produce over 11,000 designs during his lifetime for Ponti and other makers. These appeared on furniture, ceramics and cars as well as a huge range of other domestic products.

Ever keen to expand on his achievements, Ponti in no way limited himself to working on decorated pieces with Fornasetti. It was in the years following WWII and into the 1950s that Ponti produced some of his strongest, most diverse and best-known designs, all of which struck a chord with a country desperate to develop a forward-looking identity in the aftermath of the war. Perhaps his most famous work was the 1957 Superleggera (Super Light) chair, which he described as “a chair-chair, an ordinary, modest, unqualified chair”. Based on a rustic Italian design, the chair was produced for Cassina, a company with whom he collaborated for several years. Today a single chair can typically fetch around £400-800.

A Ponti sideboard with asymmetrical shelves made for Singer & Sons could be worth £6,000-8,000 while a dining table for the same company might cost £3,000-4,000. Like many architects throughout history, Ponti believed that furniture should be integrated with architecture and this concept reached its logical conclusion in his ‘organised walls’, which consisted of in-built shelving, lighting and furniture.

As well as working on all types of wooden furniture, Ponti excelled in other commercial design, producing stage sets for La Scala, Murano glass for Paola Venini and car bodies for industrial companies. Significantly he was also responsible for the 1948 La Pavioni coffee machine that has come to symbolize Italian post-war coffee culture and chic urban lifestyle. Gio Ponti was an influential key figure in making Italian design important and therefore easing the country into an affluent future. Importantly, he also brought good design to the masses, and in this way was able to spread a little of La Dolce Vita.

Showcasing thousands of years of beautiful design, Furniture contains unsurpassed coverage of furniture design through the ages.