The story of FontanaArte and its natural relationship with glass and light coincides with the birth and growth of Italian design, pioneered by Gio Ponti and his instinctive promotion of a new cultural unity in the industrial age.

FontanaArte took form in 1932 as a way to nurture the imagination and inventiveness of new generations of architects, artists, and decorators with the material qualities and plasticity of glass. It was a period characterised by the recognition of industrial production as one of “the infinite possibilities of artistic expression,” especially in Milan.

“Industry is the mode of the 20th century,” declared Ponti. “It is its way of creating. In the art-industry dyad, art is the species, industry the habitat.”

Still today, in the 21st century, the “Arte” that Ponti added to the company name is the key to an identity that exists beyond any single serial product.

The timeless spirit, a balance between art and industry, is the same that inspires FontanaArte’s contemporary production, an equilibrium of clarity and durability.