The English-language volume Gio Ponti. More than One, published by Lars Müller Publishers, paints a multifaceted picture of the Milanese architect. Critical voices are also heard in the essays.
Sandra Hofmeister
Gio Ponti. More than One, edited by Manfredo di Robilant, Manuel Orazi, with photographs by Paolo Rosselli, with essays by Elena Dellapiana, Manfredo di Robilant, Fulvio Irace, Gabriele Neri, Manuel Orazi, Francesco Parisi, Mario Piazza, Paolo Rosselli, Cecilia Rostagni, Zurich 2025
Architect, designer and art director, editor of Domus and Stile magazine, graphic designer and much more: Gio Ponti was a jack of all trades, to use that expression. Born in Milan in 1891, he is still almost omnipresent in northern Italy today. This is certainly due in part to the fact that his designs for everyday objects and furniture are still celebrated, produced and distributed worldwide by well-known companies such as Molteni and Cassina as icons of Italian design. In other countries, Ponti is best known for the architecture of the Pirelli Tower in the centre of Milan. As a designer of everyday objects – including door handles and tiles, bathroom ceramics and chairs – Gio Ponti was an exceptional talent. Many of his architectural projects, such as the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Sorrento, are designed as total works of art, with the architect incorporating his own designs, some of which are still in series production today. The volume ‘Gio Ponti. More than One’, edited by Manfredo di Robilant and Manuel Orazi, paints a dazzling picture of Ponti's various fields of activity. Already published in Italian several years ago, the essays and texts on Ponti as a critic, editor, graphic designer, architect and product designer are now also available in English from Lars Müller Publishers.
The main façade of the co-cathedral of Taranto, Lars Müller Publishers, © Paolo Rosselli
Post-war Architecturte and Design in Italy
Gio Ponti founded Domus magazine in 1928 and gave post-war modernism in Milan a face with his buildings. Ponti's Montecatini Headquarters (1936–1939) was the first purely office complex in the northern Italian metropolis, providing workspace for around 1,500 employees. In 1963, the Pirelli Tower, Ponti's magnum opus, was completed and immediately became a symbol of post-war Italy. Today, the regional government of Lombardy resides in the skyscraper near Milan's railway station. Less well known are other buildings by the Milanese architect, which today stand abandoned, such as the Hotel Paradiso del Cevedale in South Tyrol, or were built far away in Pakistan, Iran or Venezuela. Gio Ponti's own house in Via Randaccio, built in 1926 – before the war – has a distinctly classicist feel. Which brings us straight to one of the most exciting questions: was Gio Ponti an avant-gardist? In their foreword, Manfredo di Robilant and Manuel Orazi trace the reception of Ponti against the backdrop of the discourse of the time and conclude that he was not interested in visions, but in implementations. While Ponti's contemporaries such as Bruno Zevi fled from the anti-Semitism of the fascists, Ponti spent the first two decades of his professional life under the fascists, was involved in important construction projects and even had direct contact with Mussolini.
Gio Ponti with two models of the Superleggera chair. Lars Müller Publishers, © Gio Ponti Archives / Archivio storico degli Eredi di Gio Ponti
Everyday Stories
Given the wealth of expertise brought together in this book by authors such as Elena Dellapiana, Fulvio Irace and others, one might have wished for even clearer statements on the myth of Gio Ponti. Ultimately, however, Ponti's political stance and his activities from 1936 to 1952 remain unexamined and omitted. Even Ponti's biography, which is reproduced in pictures at the end of the book, deliberately omits the Fascist era and the Second World War. A blind spot, in other words. On the other hand, Paolo Rosseli's photo series is an exciting addition to the essays: the Milanese photographer has captured numerous Ponti buildings today, not as architectural icons in a deserted setting, but as lively places rooted in everyday life. And it is precisely this view that makes Ponti accessible – and shows unequivocally why the Milanese architect's designs are still exciting today.
Gio Ponti. More than One
Edited by Manfredo di Robilant, Manuel Orazi
With photographs by Paolo Rosselli
With essays by Elena Dellapiana, Manfredo di Robilant, Fulvio Irace, Gabriele Neri, Manuel Orazi, Francesco Parisi, Mario Piazza, Paolo Rosselli, Cecilia Rostagni
16,5 × 24 cm, 288 pages, 294 illustrations, paperback
Lars Müller Publishers, Zurich, 2025
ISBN 978-3-03778-763-2
This carport is located on the south side of Villa Planchart in Caracas, Venezuela, next to the entrance to the service areas at mthe back of the house. A chevron-shaped canopy provides shelter. Lars Müller Publishers, © Gio Ponti Archives / Archivio storico degli Eredi di Gio Ponti
Lamadoorhandles, 1956/1957.Lars Müller Publishers, © Olivari B. s.p.a.
The full-scale prototype of the Linea Diamante produced by FCA Heritage being unveiled at the 2018 Grand Basel collectors’event. Lars Müller Publishers, © Paolo Rosselli
Product shot of Gio Ponti: More than One: Critic, Editor, Graphic Artist, Architect, Product Designer, 2025, © 2025 Lars Müller Publishers
Product shot of Gio Ponti: More than One: Critic, Editor, Graphic Artist, Architect, Product Designer, 2025, © 2025 Lars Müller Publishers
