Luigi Fontana Furniture
Italian, 1854-1946
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 in Milan, Italy, was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Gio Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design.
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
Ponti contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
In 1933, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as table lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Luigi Fontana mirrors, lighting and more on 1stDibs.
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Mid Century Italian Green Tapered Mirror By Luigi Fontana
By Fontana Arte, Luigi Fontana
Located in Westport, CT
A lovely modern scalloped and tapered shield shape mirror in a lovely green glass joined with gold leaf water gilded baguettes
Origin: Italy, Manufacturer Fontana Arte
Dating: 1940...
Category
1940s Italian Art Deco Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Art Glass
Round table mirror of Luigi Fontana & C, Italy 1950s.
By Luigi Fontana
Located in Wolfurt, AT
Simple round table mirror of Luigi Fontana & C, Italy 1950s. The table mirror owns some traces of time and usage, which do no harm to the charm of the mirro...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Metal
Rectangolar table mirror of Luigi Fontana & C, Italy 1950s.
By Luigi Fontana
Located in Wolfurt, AT
Simple rectangolar table mirror of Luigi Fontana & C, Italy 1950s. The table mirror owns some traces of time and usage, which do no harm to the charm of the...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Metal
Picture Frame Decorative Object Luigi Fontana for Fontana Arte Midcentury 1940s
By Fontana Arte, Luigi Fontana
Located in Palermo, IT
Double Photo frame by Luigi Fontana for Fontana Arte produced in Italy in the 1940s.
The multiform photo frame has a wooden structure and decorated and ground glass with metal access...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Metal
20th Century Gio Ponti Wall Mirror with Brass Frame for Luigi Fontana, 1930s
By Gio Ponti, Luigi Fontana
Located in Turin, Turin
An eclectic personality, from his early days he was active in the fields of architecture, painting, graphics and set design. He graduated in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic i...
Category
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Brass
20th Century Pietro Chiesa Wall Mirror with Copper Frame Galvanit Fontana, 40s
By Pietro Chiesa, Luigi Fontana
Located in Turin, Turin
After an apprenticeship with the glassmaker Giannotti Pietro Chiesa opened his own glass workshop in 1921. In the early 1920s he participated in the Monza Biennale, the Venice Bienna...
Category
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Crystal, Copper
Luigi Fontana Design Blue Cobalt Mirror Deco' Years 40 Design Pietro Chiesa Attr
By Luigi Fontana
Located in Biella, IT
Luigi Fontana design blue cobalt mirror deco' years '40 design Pietro Chiesa attributed
exclusive double mirror in a blue glass frame
measure gla...
Category
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Art Glass
1930 Vedar luigi Fontana Art Deco Murano Glass Ceiling Lamp
By Vedar - Vetri d'Arte, Luigi Fontana
Located in Brescia, IT
Art deco ceiling lamp
Hand Painted frosted glass and silk cord
Excellent condiction, just micro chip on the edge (look the picture)
H glass : 22 cm diam glass 25 cm h lamp: 100 cm...
Category
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Art Glass
Round Wall Mirror, by Luigi Fontana, Fontana Arte, Wood Frame Leather Covered
By Fontana Arte, Luigi Fontana
Located in Vigonza, Padua
Round Wall Mirror, by Fontana Arte, wood frame leather covered, rope hanging.
Very rare mirror of the Fontanit which was followed by numerous fashionabl...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Leather, Wood
20th Century Gio Ponti Circular Wall Mirror for Luigi Fontana in Nickel Brass
By Gio Ponti, Luigi Fontana
Located in Turin, Turin
Wonderful Circular Mirror designed in 30s by Gio Ponti for the producer Luigi Fontana.
The mirror has a structure in nickel plated brass, on the mirror there is the brandmark of the...
Category
1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Brass
Luigi Fontana Early 20th Century Italian Oval Mirror, 1927
By Luigi Fontana
Located in Roma, IT
Amazing early 20th century oval mirror with external mirror frame. This piece is signed by Luigi Fontana, dated October 14, 1927 and designed in Palermo, Italy.
This piece has some signs and chipping but it is definitively a museum piece as it was designed by Luigi Fontana, founder of Fontana Arte, before the foundation of this company.
Thanks to its sculped frame, this piece will smarten a living room or a bedroom.
Fontana Arte (established in 1933) was founded by Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Pietro Chiesa as a premier producer and marketer of furniture, lighting, and furnishing accessories, and distinguished itself applying the highest standards of glass craftsmanship and techniques. Throughout Fontana Arte’s history, its lamps and furniture have been highly sought after due to their superior glass craftsmanship and innovative design.
Saint-Gobain Invests in Luigi Fontanta e Compagni
The origins of Fontana Arte go back to 1881 when Luigi Fontana established Luigi Fontana e Compagni to produce and market sheet glass for the construction industry. Luigi’s success as an entrepreneur in the growing Italian construction sector attracted the attention of the French glass-making company Saint-Gobain, which, in 1910, took a majority stake in the ownership of Luigi Fontana e Compagni transforming it into a “Società Anonima” still under the direction of Luigi Fontana. By the mid-1920s, Fontana e Compagni’s capabilities included the creation of artistic stained glass that was mostly used in functional and decorative settings of churches and cathedrals.
Gio Ponti Becomes Fontana e Compagni’s Artistic Director
In just a few years, the production of such artistic stained-glass products had become of such importance that a different division within the Fontana e Compagni was created to further its development. In 1930, Luigi Fontana met the successful young Milanese architect Gio Ponti, who was then the art director of Richard-Ginori pottery company, and they formed a partnership, under the name of Luigi Fontana SA, for the production of light fixtures, furniture, and furnishing objects. During this initial period, Gio Ponti designed from Fontana Arte the now-iconic 0024 Pendant light (1931) and the Bilia Table Lamp (1931).
Pietro Chiesa, Gio Ponti, and Luigi Fontana Found Fontana Arte
In 1932, Gio Ponti approached Pietro Chiesa to join him and Luigi Fontana and to become Luigi Fontana SA’s artistic director. In 1933, Pietro Chiesa merged his studio, the Bottega di Pietro Chiesa, with Fontana SA, and together Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Chiesa founded Fontana Arte. During Chiesa’s tenure as artistic director, Fontana Arte’s production became rich and varied. It included furniture, tables, mirrors, sculptures, and stained glass, but it was certainly in the lighting sector where Fontana Arte excelled by creating lamps and lights with the highest standards in glass craftsmanship and modern designs. From this period came the Luminator floor lamp, the Cartoccio glass vase, and the Fontana Arte table made out of a single band of bent clear glass, (all designed by Pietro Chiesa, in 1932); and the Naska lamp...
Category
1920s Italian Other Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Mirror
Table Mirror of Luigi Fontana & C of the 1950s
By Luigi Fontana
Located in Wolfurt, AT
The table mirror of Luigi Fontana & C, Milano, of the 1950s in Italy brings a special, playful accessoire into your home. Caused by it's form of a color palette.
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Mirror
1940s Art Deco Verde Nilo Glass and Brass Picture Frame by Luigi Fontana
By Luigi Fontana
Located in Aci Castello, IT
This Picture Frame by Luigi Fontana is an exquisite example of mid-20th century design and craftsmanship. Luigi Fontana was a renowned Italian glassmaker known for his innovative des...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Art Deco Luigi Fontana Furniture
Materials
Brass
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Measuring 80.5 cm in height and 50 cm in width, these mirrors are of a medium size that makes them versatile and adaptable to various interior design styles.
The proportions are carefully considered, creating a balanced and harmonious aesthetic that is both functional and visually appealing. Whether hung on a wall or leaned against a surface, these mirrors become a captivating focal point in any space, reflecting light and adding a sense of depth.
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As an architect, Ponti's style was characterised by his innovative use of materials, attention to detail, and his ability to create functional yet visually striking spaces. He designed numerous iconic buildings, including the Pirelli Tower in Milan, which is considered a masterpiece of Italian modernist architecture. Ponti's architectural designs were often characterszed by clean lines, open spaces, and a sense of elegance and sophistication.
In addition to architecture, Ponti also made significant contributions to the field of industrial and furniture design. He designed a wide range of products, from furniture and lighting to ceramics and glassware, often incorporating bold shapes, vibrant colours, and experimental materials. Ponti's designs were known for their functionality, comfort, and beauty, and he was recognised for his ability to bridge the gap between art and design, creating objects that were both utilitarian and aesthetically pleasing.
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Rare wall mirror by Gio Ponti, expertised Gio Ponti Archives
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Solid nickel-plated brass frame, pink glass bevelled.
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Expertise Gio Ponti archives.
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1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Luigi Fontana Furniture
Luigi Fontana furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Luigi Fontana furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of glass and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Luigi Fontana furniture, although gray editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original furniture by Luigi Fontana were created in the mid-century modern style in italy during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by Dino Cavalli, Lucio Del Pezzo, and Franz Sartori. Prices for Luigi Fontana furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $968 and can go as high as $18,912, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $4,200.