Giò Ponti graduated in architecture from the Politecnico de Milano in 1921, whereafter he founded an architectural studio with Mino Fiocchi and Emilio Lanica in the same city. From 1923 Ponti became the artistic director at the Richard-Ginori porcelain factory based in Sesto Fiorentino and during the same year he participated in the first Biennale di Monza with ceramics for the company.
In 1925 Ponti won the Grand Prix of the Exposition international des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris for his designs for Richard-Ginori. In 1926 Ponti founded a new architectural studio with Emilio Lancia in Milan which was active until 1933. In 1928 Ponti founded the architectural and design magazine Domus, for which he was the chief editor until his death, except for the years 1941-47 when he published the magazine Stile.
Together with Lucio Fontana, Ponti founded FontanaArte in 1932, an architectural and design company. From 1933-45 Ponti ran an architectural studio in Milan together with engineers Antonio Fornaroli and Eugenio Soncini, from where he a.o. designed the building and furniture of the headquarters for the chemical manufacturer Montecatini.
Ponti was professor of architecture at the Politecnico di Milano from 1936-61. During these 25 years he also designed buildings, frescoes and furniture for the Palazzo Liviano at the University of Padua (1939-40), designed interiors for cruise ships (1948-53) and made an urban development plan and buildings for the INA-Casa social housing programme in Milan. From 1952 to -66 Ponti founded yet another architectural studio in Milan with Alberto Rosselli and Antoinio Fornaroli, where he designed the Pirelli Tower in Milan (1952-56), an administrative building in Bagdad (1958), and the Hotel Praco dei Principi in Sorrento (1960-61).
In 1956 Ponti was one of the co-founders of the Italian Association for Industrial Design (ADI). In 1957 Ponti designed the Superleggera, the superlight chair made of ash wood that he had worked on for several years to perfect. By paring down the triangular section of the legs to only 18 millimeters to reach the actual minimum weight of just 1,700 grams. The Superleggera received the Compassao d’Oro the same year.
Until his death at the age of 88 in 1979, Giò Ponti worked on numerous buildings in Pakistan, Hong Kong and the USA, as well as product designs and exhibtions. He is represented at museums such as the Vitra Design Museum in Wiel am Rhein, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Furniture Studies in Stockholm.
In Stockholm Giò Ponti designed Istituto Italiano di Cultura (the Italian Culture Institute) which was built in 1957-1958.
