Indeed, the 1951 Christmas card is one of many that Ponti created throughout his life – paper worlds that drew the recipient into Ponti’s imagination and artistry. To Licitra, Ponti’s reputation across 20th-century architecture and design – all of his work is rich in craft, playfulness, material understanding and deep empathy for how people wanted to live – is one that can be interpreted through the lens of theatrical performance and the idea that the modern world could become a stage for new ways of living that broke with the strictures of the past.

“His objects place their functional purpose in the background and instead aim to animate perception through their free, highly personal, and emotional point of view – much like what happens in theatre,” Licitra explains. “This theatrical, rather than purely functional, interpretation is actually a key to accessing Ponti’s vast body of work, from architecture to design, and can guide us in understanding his entire oeuvre.”

In the new holiday installation, created by Molteni&C to celebrate the Ponti collection, a birch counter hosts a cavalcade of Ponti’s objects, set against a series of geometric patterns. These patterns have been designed to recall the motifs of Villa Planchart, the home that Ponti created for Anala and Armando Planchart in Caracas, Venezuela, and the building which best expresses Ponti’s belief in the integration of architecture and interior design to generate beautiful, transformative living spaces – he oversaw every element of the private residence’s creation, collaborating with local craftspeople to produce custom furniture, light fixtures, and artwork specifically for the villa. In Molteni&C’s interpretation of the villa, this approach transforms into geometries of coloured triangles and rhombuses that construct a space that doesn’t simply display objects, but which can stage a dialogue with them. Here, the interpretation of Ponti’s work as everyday theatre becomes apparent, with every element in conversation with one another, all in celebration of the manner in which design can support and enrich people’s lives.

It is these same principles that caused Ponti himself to regularly return to particular motifs across his design, with many of his objects either referencing or explicitly styled as animals, or else human hands presented in the same fashion as the 1951 postcard.

“What’s important is that both hands and animals are instantly understandable and ‘readable’ by anyone, anywhere in the world,” Licitra explains. “The palette of Gio Ponti – the alphabet he used to express himself – was built from absolutely universal and accessible elements.”