DOMUS 348
Novembre 1958
Gio Ponti [Editorial Director]
Gio Ponti [Editorial Director]: DOMUS 348. Milan, Editoriale Domus: Novembre 1958. Original edition. Text in Italian. English, German and French translation summary. Slim folio. Thick photo illustrated perfect bound wrappers. Side stitched textblock. 56 [vi] pp. Articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks and inserts. Elaborate graphic design throughout. Cover by Bruno Munari. Wrappers lightly worn, but a very good copy.
9.5 x 12.75 magazine with 56 [vi] pages (printed on a variety of paper stocks) of color and black and white examples of the best modern interior and industrial design, circa 1958 -- with beautiful color engraving and gravure printing throughout.
- Pirelli Tower Fold Out: Gio Ponti
- Milan Industrial Building: Gigi Gho
- California House: Richard Neutra, Julius Shulman Photographs
- New Canaan House: Eliot Noyes
- House: Franco Albini & Franca Helg: 6 pages in black and white
- In Milan: Gianemillio, Piero, Anna Monti: 6 pages in color and black and white
- Brussels Expo Building: Carlo De Carli, Marcello Grisotti: 5 pages black and white
- Cafe: Jean Ballhache & Claude Parent
- House: Paolo Tilche
- Romano Rui
- Architecture and Society: Gillo Dorfles
- Plastic Designs: Monsanto Chemical Company
- Silver: Lino Sabattini
- Full page Olivetti ad
- and more.
Long considered Europe's most influential architecture and design magazine, Domus was founded by Gio Ponti in 1928 as a "living diary" in which he could advertise his own work, outline the "aims" of his projects and raise people's awareness about other design issues. Called the "Mediterranean Megaphone, " Domus lauded mass-production and tried to link architecture and artisans in a new, unforeseen ways. Ponti left Domus in 1940 to start his other journal, Stile in which he could focus on art and the impact of the war on Italian architects and architecture. In 1948 Ponti returned to Domus, where he recast it in his own eclectic, exuberant vision of the modern and tirelessly championed designers he admired, notably Carlo Mollino.
In his 1957 book Amate L'Architettura (In Praise of Achitecture) Ponti extolled his audience to "Love architecture, be it ancient or modern. Love it for its fantastic, adventurous and solemn creations; for its inventions; for the abstract, allusive and figurative forms that enchant our spirit and enrapture our thoughts. Love architecture, the stage and support of our lives." This spirit reverberates through every page of Domus.