pair of GIO PONTI oak hanging nightstand tables, side tables Hotel Royal, 1955
About the Item
- Creator:Giordano Chiesa (Cabinetmaker),Gio Ponti (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 13 in (33 cm)Width: 23.63 in (60 cm)Depth: 15.36 in (39 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1955
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Rome, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU950039117182
Gio Ponti
An architect, furniture and industrial designer and editor, Gio Ponti was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century Italian modernism.
Ponti designed thousands of furnishings and products — from cabinets, mirrors and chairs to ceramics and coffeemakers — and his buildings, including the brawny Pirelli Tower (1956) in his native Milan, and the castle-like Denver Art Museum (1971), were erected in 14 countries. Through Domus, the magazine he founded in 1928, Ponti brought attention to virtually every significant movement and creator in the spheres of modern art and design.
The questing intelligence Ponti brought to Domus is reflected in his work: as protean as he was prolific, Ponti’s style can’t be pegged to a specific genre.
In the 1920s, as artistic director for the Tuscan porcelain maker Richard Ginori, he fused old and new; his ceramic forms were modern, but decorated with motifs from Roman antiquity. In pre-war Italy, modernist design was encouraged, and after the conflict, Ponti — along with designers such as Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini, Marco Zanuso — found a receptive audience for their novel, idiosyncratic work. Ponti’s typical furniture forms from the period, such as the wedge-shaped Distex chair, are simple, gently angular, and colorful; equally elegant and functional. In the 1960s and ’70s, Ponti’s style evolved again as he explored biomorphic shapes, and embraced the expressive, experimental designs of Ettore Sottsass Jr., Joe Colombo and others.
Ponti's signature furniture piece — the one by which he is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Germany’s Vitra Design Museum and elsewhere — is the sleek Superleggera chair, produced by Cassina starting in 1957. (The name translates as “superlightweight” — advertisements featured a model lifting it with one finger.)
Ponti had a playful side, best shown in a collaboration he began in the late 1940s with the graphic artist Piero Fornasetti. Ponti furnishings were decorated with bright finishes and Fornasetti's whimsical lithographic transfer prints of things such as butterflies, birds or flowers; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possesses a 1950 secretary from their Architetturra series, which feature case pieces covered in images of building interiors and facades. The grandest project Ponti and Fornasetti undertook, however, lies on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean: the interiors of the luxury liner Andrea Doria, which sank in 1956.
Widely praised retrospectives at the Queens Museum of Art in 2001 and at the Design Museum London in 2002 sparked a renewed interest in Ponti among modern design aficionados. (Marco Romanelli’s monograph, which was written for the London show, offers a fine overview of Ponti’s work.) Today, a wide array of Ponti’s designs are snapped up by savvy collectors who want to give their homes a touch of Italian panache and effortless chic.
Find a range of vintage Gio Ponti desks, dining chairs, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
Giordano Chiesa
As a master cabinetmaker and furniture craftsman, Giordano Chiesa produced beautiful mid-century modern pieces, largely in collaboration with Italian starchitect and designer Gio Ponti.
Although the pair had a long history of collaboration, their work for stylish mid-century Italian hotels stands out. In the mid-1950s, Ponti and Chiesa teamed up with manufacturer Dassi Lissone to create streamlined walnut and brass furniture for the Royal Hotel in Naples, including headboards, side tables and wardrobe doors for each room. A decade later, the duo designed sleek, blue formica-surfaced ashwood writing desks, dressers and headboards, for the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Rome.
Chiesa produced Ponti’s sculptural glass-topped coffee table, which features artistically aligned maple legs and slats to form a sort of grid as its base. Similar to Ponti’s no. 1101 coffee table for Singer and Sons, Chiesa and Ponti’s table rivals the more famous design in its eloquence and craftsmanship.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of Giordano Chiesa tables, storage case pieces and other furniture and collectibles.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Roma, Italy
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Gio Ponti, pair Walnut Headboards with fitted bedside tables, Hotel Royal, 1955By Gio Ponti, Giordano ChiesaLocated in Rome, ITA pair of headboards by Gio Ponti from the furniture of the Hotel Royal in Naples, 1955. Manufactured by Giordano Chiesa by Dassi. walnut and metal two tiered shelving, magazine rac...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsMetal
- Pair of Large Gio Ponti Cherrywood Boiserie Panels from Hotel Royal, Naples 1955By Gio Ponti, Giordano ChiesaLocated in Rome, ITA pair of unique Gio Ponti wood panels from the furniture of the Hotel Royal in Naples, 1955. Manufactured by Giordano Chiesa by Dassi. cherrywood thick edge with owl's beak these pi...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Architectural Elements
MaterialsCherry
- Gio Ponti dark wood right Headboard with fitted bedside tables Hotel Royal, 1955By Gio Ponti, Giordano ChiesaLocated in Rome, ITa single left headboard by Gio Ponti from the furniture of the Hotel Royal in Naples, 1955. Manufactured by Giordano Chiesa by Dassi. dark honey wood two tiered shelving, magazine rack, space for lighting switch Good condition. Original patina, Sold with a copy of a certificate of Lisa Licitra Ponti and the original invoice of the Hotel Royal. Directly from the original furniture of the Royal Hotel. Measures: H 80 cm 162 x 44cm each piece; radio of the time; hole for the electrical outlet: cm.10 x h 7 cm Similar items of our same collections have been exhibited in London in Modern Design Museum and Triennale in Milan and a similar items of same collector is now in the permanent collection of the TRIENNALE of Milan. See a pair of heaboards of our collection sold in last Italian Design Auction...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsMetal
- Gio Ponti Single Elm Left Headboard with fitted bedside table, Hotel Royal, 1955By Giordano Chiesa, Gio PontiLocated in Rome, ITa single left headboard by Gio Ponti from the furniture of the Hotel Royal in Naples, 1955. Manufactured by Giordano Chiesa by Dassi. olm two tiered shelving, magazine rack, space for lighting switch Good condition. Original patina, Sold with a copy of a certificate of Lisa Licitra Ponti and the original invoice of the Hotel Royal. Directly from the original furniture of the Royal Hotel. Measures: H 80 cm 162 x 44cm each piece; hole for the electrical outlet: cm.10 x h 7 cm Similar items of our same collections have been exhibited in London in Modern Design Museum and Triennale in Milan and a similar items of same collector is now in the permanent collection of the TRIENNALE of Milan. See a pair of heaboards of our collection sold in last Italian Design Auction...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
MaterialsElm
- rare Gio Ponti leggera chair, n.646 by Cassina, from Hotel Royal Naples, 1955By Gio PontiLocated in Rome, ITvery rare Gio Ponti iconic chair, n. 646 by Cassina ash and re-upholstery in ivory cotton this model was manufactured by Cassina, Meda as a variation on Ponti's legendary "leggera" c...Category
Vintage 1950s European Modern Chairs
MaterialsVelvet, Ash
- Gio Ponti vanity desk console table with a adjustable Fontana arte mirror, 1950By Giordano Chiesa, Gio PontiLocated in Rome, ITrare Gio Ponti toilette, vanity table dressing table one drawer with an adjustable brass mirror by Fontana Arte produced by Giordano Chiesa for Das...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Coffee or Side Boomerang Table Style Gio Ponti Wood, Italy, circa 1955By Gio PontiLocated in Vienna, ATWooden boomerang table in very good condition Italy, circa 1955. Stylish table in very good original condition made from birch wood and brass; tha table top has a special coating ...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Small Gio Ponti style side tableBy Gio PontiLocated in London, GBLovely small circular wood and glass table in the style of Gio Ponti. Italy c1950.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsGlass, Walnut
- Pair of Italian Nightstands in the Style of Gio Ponti, circa 1950By Gio PontiLocated in London, GBA fantastic pair of midcentury Italian designed side chests in exotic wood with amazing marquetry double doors black glass top, sculptural black lac...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Stunning Pair of Side Tables or End Tables in the Style of Gio Ponti, TeakBy Gio PontiLocated in Miami, FLBeautiful pair of tables, two inch thick tapered teak top resting on a white lacquered base and brass tips.Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Pair of Italian Side Tables in the Style of Gio Ponti, circa 1940By Gio PontiLocated in London, GBAn amazing pair of Italian side tables or nightstands. A mix of woods, tapered legs leading to brass shoes. Decorative brass swans supporting a beautiful marble shelf. Each table has...Category
Vintage 1940s Italian Hollywood Regency Night Stands
MaterialsBrass
- GIo Ponti walnut occasional table for the Cavalieri Hotel in Milan, Italy, 1950sBy Gio PontiLocated in Chiavari, LiguriaA side table in walnut designed by Gio Ponti, originating from the Hotel dei Cavalieri in Milan. This refined side table is a prestigious piece of furniture conceived by Gio Ponti for the interiors of the Hotel dei Cavalieri in Milan. This structure, still admired today for its distinctly twentieth-century architecture, was built in 1949 based on the designs of Emilio Lancia, with significant contributions from Ponti. The palace, an icon of Milanese history, retains its contemporary relevance, dominating Piazza Missori with its distinctive curved facade and contributing daily to city life. Around a hundred windows adorned with diamond-shaped decorations open onto civic number...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsWalnut
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Barnaba Fornasetti’s Hallucinatory House Has His Father’s Spirit
Behind a nondescript facade in northeastern Milan is the magical residence of Barnaba Fornasetti. It's a shrine to the style developed by his design-legend father, which still defies categorization.
Billy Cotton Layers His Interiors with Lived-In Comfort
The Brooklyn-based designer is adept at styles ranging from austere to over-the-top, espousing an architectural, detail-oriented approach also evident in his line of furniture and lighting.