By the 1920s, the glass manufacturer Luigi Fontana & C., founded in Milan in 1881, had become one of the largest Italian producers of glass and windows for the building trades.

When Fontana meets Gio Ponti, he explain he has been thinking about reorienting a part of his business toward the creation of furniture and “objets d’art”.

In no time Gio Ponti is designing furniture, metal frames, and centerpieces in mirror and cut glass for Fontana. It is in fact Gio Ponti’s idea to create a new, specializes, division of the company, and in 1932 Fontana Arte is born.

With his friend furniture design and the master glass-maker Pietro Chiesa, he shares the artistic direction.

Fontana Arte becomes knows for its lighting fixtures, the demand for which only continues to grow with the widespread electrification of homes across Italy and Europe.

Rapidly the company’s name is considered synonymous with Italian style.