Gio Ponti’s Gio Ponti Shelf

a close up view of the end of a long, shallow wall-mounted shelf by gio ponti for his own apartment in milan. the square u shape of the profile is left unpainted, while the inside is a pale butter color. two vertical pieces of wood reach the back of the shelf, but are set back from the front edge. combined with a very shallow curved beveling of the undersides of the two horizontal shelf pieces, this creates an unexpectedly elegant cantilever, and makes the shelf look thinner than it acually is. gio ponti was in these details. the shelf is being sold in april 2025 by phillips london
Gio Ponti’s shelf up close, with that subtly curved underside, selling at Phillips in London 30 Apr 2025

In other exquisitely cheap-looking but actually rather expensive furniture from designers’ own homes news: Check out this unique painted wood & laminate shelf Gio Ponti made in 1957 for his Milan apartment.

Phillips has other wider views, but the whole point here, I think, is the very shallow, rounded bevel on the undersides, and then not painting the very thin edge. Beautiful.

gio ponti's smallish milan dining area photographed at an angle, with a dark doorway on the left and a dark open space above it and a wall that doesn't reach the ceiling extending to the right, above another, closed door. between the doors a white painted wood shelf is mounted to the wall, with an array of glassware on top. below, two rush seat ash superleggera chairs, very spindly. the center of the picture is a round table with four chairs and a pale yellow cloth, set for two. a tall shelf of similar wood is mounted on the right wall, and actually has some stuff in it. a white mentos-shaped lamp hangs near the ceiling. in the lower left corner, some kind of cowhide situation there is no need to get into. from the gio ponti archives via phillips, which is selling the little shelf in april 2025
Gio Ponti residence, Via Dezza, Milano, no date, photo © Gio Ponti Archives via Phillips

Here it is in situ. Uh oh, don’t look at that. Because now you realize there’s another one, that you can’t get. Also, did the stylist really pull all the glasses off the shelf for this photo? Also, is the floor reflecting onto the ceiling, or is this some kind of 4th floor of 101 Spring St-style plane matching? Also, need me some Superleggera chairs.

30 Apr 2025, Lot 66: Gio Ponti, Unique shelf, from Gio Ponti’s residence, Via Dezza, Milan, est. £12,000 – 18,000 [phillips]