Master of twentieth-century architecture and Italian design.
Giovanni Ponti, known as Gio Ponti, was born in Milan on 18 November 1891 and studied at the Milan Polytechnic School, where he graduated in Architecture in 1921. A figure of extraordinary versatility, he is considered one of the fathers of twentieth-century Italian design: architect, designer, writer and theorist, he moved with equal mastery between the scale of the building and that of the everyday object.
In 1928, he founded the magazine Domus, which he directed for decades, turning it into one of the world's leading references for architecture and design. Throughout his career, he worked with the most important Italian manufacturers - from Richard Ginori to Cassina - showing a unique sensitivity for combining craft tradition with modern language.
Among his most celebrated architectural works are the Pirelli Tower in Milan (1958), a symbol of postwar Italian modernity, and Taranto Cathedral (1970). His formal research is guided by an ideal of lightness: taut surfaces, slender forms and essential structures that strip away all superfluous weight to restore matter's expressive purity.
With the Montedoria collection, Gio Ponti brings that same philosophy to De Marchi Verona: porcelain as a material capable of becoming transparent, capturing light and returning it transformed. A dialogue between geometry and craftsmanship that spans decades while remaining absolutely modern.