GIO PONTI, 1954
Master of a lightness few others have achieved, Gio Ponti designed the Lama handle in 1954 for the Pirelli Skyscraper. An example of the genial consistency of one of the greats of Italian architecture, from micro to macro projects.
grattacielo pirelli
Milano, Italy
LAMA
Gio Ponti
Lama expresses a new approach to the way a handle is designed. It is the hand, and its gestures, that must adapt to a purpose-driven object of a given shape.
Gio Ponti begins his profession with Emilio Lancia, exhibiting an elegant Novecento style. His Palazzo Montecatini in Milan (1936) brings him closer to Rationalism and introduces many technological innovations in Italy for the first time. In the 1950s, he develops a free, personal style that eschews square corners, searching for highly expressive chromatic and luminous effects, such as the Villa Planchart a Caracas (1954).
