Fontana Arte, Pietro Chiesa, suspension lamp c. 1934
In the aftermath of World War I, a spent Europe,
understandably, was asking itself, "Ma allora perche?"—
"But then why?"—a thought enunciated by the
incomparable architect, designer and writer Gio Ponti in
a letter to a friend in 1970, but very much applicable to
the world of the 1920s and to the period in the 1930s
during which he inspired the firm's design agenda.
He would assume direction a second time—for one
year-- a generation later, in 1968, the last year of this
book's narrative. The operative word that seems to be
implied by this Italian expression and might add to the
English translation is "not": as in "but then, why not?"
HYLAND
