Founded in 1932 from an idea by Gio Ponti, FontanaArte is one of the Italian companies that have written the “history of lighting and furnishing” in Italy and around the world. They have involved the most important architects and lighting designers, who together with the company have built a cultural project on architecture, lighting and furnishings. Timeless objects, with splendid shapes, some of which have become design classics on show in the most important museums around the world.
FontanaArte’s history began in the year 1881 with the founding of a company called Luigi Fontana in Milan. Luigi Fontana originally produced glass slabs for construction work, but soon switched to the production of furnishing elements as well as individual pieces and glass objects, which were only manufactured on commission.
In the year 1931 Gio Ponti entered the scene, previously director of the magazine “Domus”, as creative director for Luigi Fontana. Gio Ponti was co-founder of the ADI (Italian association for industrial design), managed the Triennale di Milano several times, and was professor at the Politecnico di Milano, the largest technical university in Italy. He designed not only buildings for public and private use, but also novel furniture and impressive objects. Many of his designs are still produced by FontanaArte even today, like the 0024XXL suspension lamp, the Bilia table lamp, and the Tavolo Con Ruote.
Together with timeless pieces, today FontanaArte is collaborating with many recognized designers from different origins and style giving to the news products an always new and innovative contents. Among these designer can be mentioned Claesson Koivisto Rune, GamFratesi, Andreas Engesvik, Odo Fioravanti, Paola Navone, Sebastian Herkner, Carlo Colombo, Karim Rashid.
Company website: www.fontanaarte.com
FontanaArte collections:
- Lighting
- Furniture & Object
Some inspirational pictures (click to enlarge):
