Sculptural, glass panel on a metal mount, Italy, Venice (Murano), designed by Gio Ponti, for Venini, with the collaboration of Toni Zuccheri, ca. 1965

Gio Ponti started experimenting with his Vetrate Gosse [large stained-glass] in 1963-64, working at the Venini furnace with Ludovico De Santillana and Toni Zuccheri, who was responsible for many of the new technical ideas. The panels or blocks were mounted in metal screens after Ponti's design, held in place by vertical slots. The first window was installed in 1964 at theheadquarters of the Cassa di Risparmio di Padua et Rovigo, in Padua. The series was presented at the 32nd Venice Biennal in 1964 and in 1965 at the 'Espressioni Space, ideal Standard, Milan. The Italian Magazine Domus of March 1966 described the nature of the collaboration of Ponti with Zuccheri.
This example was acquired from personal collection of Paul von Stemann and his wife, the writer Gwen Robbins. The Dane Paul von Stemann (d.1996), owned Finmar, 26 Kingly Street, one of the main London stockists for Venini glass as well as Scandinavian-designed goods. Finmar closed in 1965.

A number of similar sculptural panels, all with different designs seemed to have been produced for Venini. Similar panels were also framed to form larger window-style installations.

C.34-1995