Round D.154.5

armchairs | gio ponti armchairs

The iconic Round D.154.5 designed by Gio Ponti has very modern shapes, almost out of this world, which had never been thought of before.

Design Gio Ponti

The early 1950s marked a turning point in Gio Ponti’s furniture designs, towards highly innovative solutions linked to functional and essential shapes: the end of the Second World War, with the desire to restart and rebuild a modern world full of novelties, thus moving away from the past; the availability of innovative materials, which made it possible to conceive objects that were previously unfeasible.

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The Round project D.154.5 fully satisfied Ponti’s design mind-set of the period.

Characterized by avantgarde materials and technologies, such as the Vipla (a plastic material that resembles leather) for the upholstery, curved plywood to join the backrest and seat, and metal feet with non-slip tips that are easy to assemble.

Round (D.154.5) is also referred to as ‘Otto Pezzi’ (Eight Pieces) in the Ponti/Fornaroli/Rosselli study. In fact, there are eight
pieces that make up the chair: backrest, seat, two curved plywood elements and four legs, which screw into the seat to hold the whole thing together.

Designed in 1954, full production began in 1956/1957 and it was officially presented at the 11th Milan Triennale in 1957 (Feal Pavilion), along with other innovative Ponti
furnishings, in a limited number of examples which are now highly sought after by collectors.

Gio Ponti was very fond of this chair and often used it to furnish his architectural projects.

1956 Villa Arreaza Caracas, Venezuela Interni/Interiors © Gio Ponti Archives Archivio storico Eredi Gio Ponti

1957 Italian Cultural Institut Stockholm © Gio Ponti Archives Archivio storico Eredi Gio Ponti

1960 Alitalia Milano © Gio Ponti Archives Archivio storico Eredi Gio Ponti

More than 60 years after the original idea, Round (D.154.5) was reborn thanks to the Heritage Collection reissue project by Molteni&C, in collaboration with the Gio Ponti Archives.

As with all the projects in the collection, the careful study of drawings, photos and period materials has made it possible to faithfully reproduce the armchair in every detail, bringing a forgotten masterpiece back to life.
Featuring a wooden structure of multi-layered ash and black chrome or brushed brass feet, the Round D.154.5 chair can be covered with all textiles and leathers of the Molteni&C collection.

Design

Gio Ponti

Giovanni “Gio” Ponti, (Milan, November 18, 1891 - Milan, September 16, 1979), is one of the Italian masters of architecture. He was also a designer and essayist and one of the most important of the twentieth century. Other than the great architectural works which carry his unmistakable signature, he created a vast amount of work in the furniture sector. This is demonstrated in his three Milanese houses which were fully furnished in the “Ponti” style. The houses in via Randaccio, 1925, Casa Laporte in via Brin, 1926 and the last in via Dezza, in 1957 is an "expression" of his home design ideas.

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