Giò Ponti

(18 November 1891, Milan – 16 September 1979, Milan)

Ponti's parents were Enrico Ponti and Giovanna Rigone. He did military service during World War I in the Pontonier Corps with the rank of captain, from 1916 to 1918, receiving the Bronze Medal and the Italian Military Cross.

Giovanni Ponti graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1921 from the Politecnico di Milano University. Also in 1921, he married Giulia Vimercati; they eventually would have four children and eight grandchildren.

In 1923 Ponti made his public debut at the first Biennial Exhibition of the Decorative Arts in Monza, which was followed by his involvement in organising the subsequent Triennial Exhibitions of Monza and Milan.

From 1923 to 1930 Ponti worked at the Manifattura Ceramica Richard Ginori, in Milan and Sesto Fiorentino, changing the company's whole output. Other industrial design work includes:

• a line of furnishings for the Rinascente department stores, under the name Domus Nova
• ceramic objects production: maiolica vases, porcelain, sanitaryware (like sinks and toilets (e.g. those created for Richard Ginori and Ideal Standard)
• the preliminary design for Reed & Barton's "The Diamond" flatware (1958), adapted for production by designer Robert H. Ramp.
• chairs: among others, he worked for Cassina designing an angular armchair, named "Distex", and the very famous 1957 "Superleggera" (Superlight) chair, which was very strong but also so light that it could be lifted up by a child using just one finger. Also very famous is the "Due Foglie" sofa.
• glass bottles: he designed stylish, colourful glass bottles for various companies such as Venini.
• lamps: for companies such as Artemide, Fontana Arte, and Venini, he created two types of lamps: those provided with very shining, intense colours, and those with a minimalist aesthetic, simple and essential. Among the latter, one of the most famous is the "Billia" lamp, which looks modern today while it was designed for Fontana Arte]in 1931.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Models of interior designs

The models chosen for the realization are 3. The first is a Wooden Cabinet (1953) with protruding strips decorative and functional. The second is an Armchair designed in 1953 and built with frame in satin brass and leather two-tone white / blue. The third is one of the most important industrial design products of the twentieth century: the "Superleggera" (Superlight) chair (1957).

Wooden Cabinet

Wooden cabinet with protruding strips (1953) decorative and functional: they served to open doors or drawers. It is part of a series, made ​​with different finishes, including dresser drawers, desks and furniture-bookcase.

For the realization, the model was divided into 3 sections:

1. Outside;
2. Drawers;
3. Feet.

The outside has been created using 5 CUBOIDs 2-dimensional for the outer part. The inner part, instead, has been created using some BEZIER surfaces, joined then with the outer part always through BEZIER.

The drawers have been realized like the outside (with CUBOIDs and BEZIER). For the many strips that appear on the drawers was used the SIMPLICIAL_COMPLEX for each of them. The completed drawers will be then inserted inside the outside section.

Finally the feet have been built with a CUBOID as the base, 4 inclined trapezes of different dimension created with SIMPLICIAL_COMPLEX and a cylinder on top.

The entire model is the insertion of these 3 sections into a STRUCT. The following pictures represent the model developed with Plasm.js:

Below there is a prototype of the model developed using the python module Pyplasm:

Armchair

Armchair designed in 1953 and built with frame in satin brass and leather two-tone white / blue. It takes part of the collection, made under the artistic direction of Studio Cerri & Associati, includes furniture and accessories designed by Gio Ponti between 1935 and the 50s.

The model has been divided into 3 sections:

• pillows;
• legs;
• armchairs.

The 2 pillows have been developed entirely with BEZIER surfaces. For each pillow, first the 6 surfaces that characterize the pillow have been realized. But being all curved surfaces, they present 4 holes per pillow between them. So these 4 holes have been closed with 4 BEZIER surface in order to soften the attachment between the 6 surfaces.

For the armchair's legs, some constructs have been used. The straight sections of the pipes of the legs have been built with cylinders defined with BEZIER. These cylinders are simple BEZIER surfaces which are given as a parameter some circumferences defined in this way.

var circumference = function (r,dx,dy,dz) {
    return function (v) {
        return [r*COS(v[0])+dx, r*SIN(v[0])+dy, dz];
    };
};

Instead the curved sections of the pipes have been built with a specific section of the torus. The attachments of the legs with the pillow have been realized with simple CUBOIDS and the bases always with the cylinder defined before.

Finally the armrest has been built with a CUBOID in the center and 4 BEZIER surfaces, one on each side of the CUBOID.

The final model developed with Plasm.js is this:

Here instead the prototype developed with PyPlasm module:

"Superleggera" (Superlight) chair

The Superleggera Chair was designed in 1957 for Cassina by the huge Italian designer, Gio Ponti. Inspired by the traditional Chiavari chairs Ponti had seen at the Italian seaside, the design was meant to be so strong and so light that a child could lift it up with one finger. A child can. It's a remarkably simple design that gains it's appeal from it razor thin looks, and its ability to go from modest to high fashion when dressed up in color.

The model has been divided in 3 sections:

• seat;
• legs;
• boards.

The seat has been realized with the same technique used for the armrest of the armchair: a CUBOID in the center and 4 BEZIER surfaces, one on each side of the CUBOID.

The legs have been divided too in: front legs and back legs. Both of them has been created only with BEZIER surfaces.

Finally the boards have been built in 2 different types. The first boards are those that are under the seat. These have been created with simple CUBOIDs. The 2 boards that serve as back-rest instead have been created with BEZIER surfaces, due to their curvature.

The final model developed with Plasm.js, seen as a STRUCT of these 3 sections, is below:

Here instead the prototype of the chair developed with PyPlasm: