Mid2Mod: Paolo Venini

Showing posts with label Paolo Venini. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gio Ponti

Giovanni (Gio) Ponti (1891-1979) was an Italian designer, architect and journalist. He studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. After completing his studies in 1921, he worked for two years as an architect and then took a position as artistic director of a ceramics factory.

During the course of his career, he also designed glassware, lighting, furniture and housewares. He was a professor or architecture and wrote a number of books on art, design and architecture.

In 1928 Ponti founded the design and architecture magazine Domus and remained its editor for many years. In 1933 he was a co-founder of the important Milan Triennale. The Pirelli Building is considered his architectural masterpiece, along with the Denver Art Museum. His best known designs are the Superleggera chair (1957) for Cassina, the glass and lighting he created for Venini (1946-1950) and the coffee machine he designed for La Pavoni (1948).

From ponti-gio.com

La Pavoni coffee machine
designmuseum.org

Superleggera chair for Cassina
cassina.com

Venini glass
antiquehelper.com

Venini glass
liveauctioneers.com

Chandelier
1stdibs.com

Distex lounge chair
icollector.com

Cane bench
treadwaygallery.com

White leather armchairs
center44.com

Display case
wright20.com

Executive desk
wright20.com

Rocking chair
1stdibs.com

Sideboard
icollector.com

Pronunciation Guide

Friday, September 24, 2010

Glass masters

1950s glass, once called “the collectibles of the future,” has lived up to its name. The exquisite bottles, bowls and vases from Europe and America that graced almost every twentieth century home have now become highly coveted collectors’ items.

Beautiful glass was created by Italians Paolo Venini, Fulvio Bianconi, Dino Martens, Aldo Nason, Flavio Poli and Carlo Scarpa. Scandinavians such as Sweden’s Sven Palmqvist and Vicke Lindstrand, Denmark’s Per Lutken and Otto Brauer, as well as Finland’s Tapia Wirkkala, Timo Sarpaneva and Kaj Franck satisfied America’s love of dramatic shapes in both clear glass and vibrant colors.

Produced in the United States and perhaps somewhat less exotic to middle-class Americans than European designs were the pieces that came from Blenko, Fenton and Viking. What they lacked in mystique, they made up in accessibility, because almost every mid-century home had a Blenko decanter or carafe, Fenton milk glass or a Viking swung vase.

Most of these pieces were purchased purely for their decorative value and were affordable in almost every home, marking a departure from a time when only the wealthy could own such luxuries.