Gio Ponti - Superleggera Fake or the real deal? 😉

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manueloswald

(@manueloswald)

New Member

Joined: 2026 years ago

Posts: 1

04/02/2016 11:16 am

Hello everybody!
I came across these chairs and am not sure if they are the real deal or just very good fake of the Superleggera by Gio Ponti.
The seller says the chairs come from Chivari, IT and were stored in a attic from 1974 on. She doesn't mention Gio Ponti or Superleggera in any way
What do you think? To me the look pretty much like the real deal.
Thank you
Manuel
<img class="wpforo-default

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(@deleted)

Illustrious Member

Joined: 15 years ago

Posts: 973

05/02/2016 6:58 pm

Your chair looks real from the images you provided. Any design book can confirm this if you know Gio Ponti's work, also check the Cassina website. Unlike other modernist designers who rejected the past, Gio Ponti (like Wegner, Nakashima and others) did look from the past for inspiration and on this one from the traditional ladder back chairs from that region in Italy called Chiavari.
Your chair is the second version, a refinement of the earlier version for M. Singer and Sons.
Here's a good book for you, 'Design1935-1965: What Modern Was' by Martin Eidelberg.

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tktoo

(@tktoo)

Illustrious Member

Joined: 15 years ago

Posts: 2300

06/02/2016 1:35 am

Okay, somebody has to say it. The chair in those pics is not only a Superleggera. It's a super-sexy Superleggera.
Maybe it's a just symptom of age, but, to my eye, it's got it all going on.

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