Giò Ponti in Venice for the 2012 Architecture Biennale

Tuesday 31 July 2012

 Giò Ponti and family at Casa Via Dezza

From 27th August to 28th September 2012, Molteni&C and Rubelli will be paying homage to renowned Italian designer Giò Ponti with Vivere alla Ponti, an exhibition set up in Rubelli's historic head offices at Palazzo Corner Spinelli, Venice.

Giò Ponti: Punteggiato handwoven velvet 1934 (Rubelli Archives)

Timed to coincide with Venice’s 13th International Architectural Exhibition, the show’s main focus will be the furniture collection reissued by Molteni&C and a limited edition armchair, designed by Ponti for his Via Dezza home in Milan and upholstered in Punteggiato and Rattoppato velvets, fabrics also designed for Rubelli by Ponti and originally displayed at the 1934 Biennale.

Giò Ponti: Rattoppato for XIX Biennale 1934 (Rubelli Archives)

The Punteggiato and Rattoppato fabrics are, respectively, a chiselled velvet with a geometrical design on metallic background, and a velvet worked with abstract graphics, and are presented for the occasion alongside drawings and original blueprints.

Giò Ponti: Rattoppato handwoven velvet 1934 (Rubelli Archives)

The display is completed by the exhibition Vivere Alla Ponti: Experiments in Domestic Life and Architecture for Living and Working. Organised by the Milan Order of Architects in collaboration with Molteni&C, the exhibition is a tribute to Ponti's domestic design and his still modern vision of what is modern.

Giò Ponti: Domus 1940
The overall effect of the show is that of an intimate and professional story, accompanied by letters, family photos and video documents showing how alive and vital the great 20th century Maestro was.

Vetri 1940 (Rubelli Archives)

Vetri damask 1940 (Rubelli Archives)