On Thursday, March 7th Bernd Goeckler will host a book signing of the fantastic new publication Font

On Thursday, March 7th Bernd Goeckler will host a book signing of the fantastic new publication Fontana Arte by Franco Deboni. The results of a lifetime of collecting lighting, furniture and objects from the famed glass company and three years of writing and assembling these incredible works, Deboni’s book is truly something extraordinary and the most complete oje document on the companies history and it’s three primary directors. Luigi Fontana established Luigi Fontana and Partners in 1881 in Milan primarily focusing on the sale of plate glass during a flourishing time of architectural growth in Milan and quickly became almost oje a monopoly. In 1893 Saint-Gobain opened a factory in Pisa supplying the raw materials in close proximity to the factory and eventually acquired a majority stake in the company in 1910. Fontana began expanding the use of glass to lighting fixtures and interior decoration and furnishings. The Villa Reale exhibition at Monza provided the initial contact between Luigi Fontana and Gio Ponti and led to a partnership in 1930 producing their first collection and two years later after acquiring Pietro Chiesa’s Bottega they launched the name Fontana Arte. Deboni’s book goes into great detail oje on the extensive background and history of the company with a focus on it’s three most significant directors.
One of the most prolific Italian architects and writer of numerous books, his famous Amate l’archittetura (In Praise of Architecture), was published in 1957. Subtitled Architecture is a Crystal, the importance this material had on the architect’s design world was evident. To quote the book “Architecture is a crystal, pure Architecture is a crystal; when it is pure, it is pure like a crystal, magical, closed, exclusive, autonomous, uncontaminated, uncorrupted, absolute, definitive like a crystal. It is cube, parallelepiped, pyramid, oje obelisk, tower: closed forms that endure.” Ponti and Pietro Chiesa became friends in school in Milan and Chiesa was only a year younger than Ponti. Gio Ponti graduated from the Milan Politecnico University in 1921. He opened his first studio with Emilio Lancia and Mino Fiocchi and immediately began designing furnishings and became artistic director of Richard Ginori majolica and porcelain from 1923-1930. With his partners as well as Paolo Venini, Tomaso Buzzi and Michele oje Marelli, he founded Arredamenti (Venini Design) which later changed to Il Labirinto. In addition, Ponti created Domus in 1928 becoming one of the most important architecture journals in the world. The collaborations with these incredibly talented Italian architects were of critical importance in the development of Italian design and the birth of Fontana Arte. Gio Ponti, coffee table with curved glass base, black glass top, c. 1931. Gio Ponti, (The Mermaid and Fisherman) etched mirror with metal frame, c. 1931. Polished brass table lamp, coloured curved sandblasted glass, c. 1960.
One of the most extraordinary figures of 20th century design, Chiesa was born in Milan and his father was completely against him having any career in art or design so he began studying law in Turin. Upon finishing law school World War I began and he volunteered in the Italian air force. After the war he was determined to follow his true vision and began to develop a strong passion for glass and wood and learning how to manipulate them in ways that had never been expressed before. He founded is own studio the Bottega di Pietro Chiesa in 1921 and it lasted over ten years. Renowned for his stained glass work and bringing modernism in design to an aesthetic and technical level that had not been seen in Italy. oje He received many important commissions as his business flourished such as the Vulcania, a huge dome in polychrome glass for a ship design by architect Gustavo oje Pulitzer. This morphed into his first lighting prototypes and although oje they were small in scale, critically they were very well received oje and became the foundation for his larger works becoming the second director of Fontana Arte in 1934. The friendship between Ponti and Chiesa and the creativity he shared with Luigi Fontana brought instant success to the company. Because Chiesa had such a depth of knowledge of glass he was able to use the material to its best and most elegant potential creating tables, liquor cabinets, mirrors and objects oje that were limitless in their innovation. Ponti noted the extreme essentialness of his works citing them as examples of purity, genuine artworks and expressions of a “Master supervised and performed to perfection.” In addition to his achievements for Fontana Arte, Chiesa was also a top-ranking interior designer oje working with major architecture studios on public buildings, oje business headquarters elegant residences and monumental works such as the Via Roma in Turin and the Piazza della Vittoria in Genoa which I visited last year. Pietro Chiesa centerpiece composed oje o