Gio Ponti occasional table with drawers for BNL offices, Genoa, Italy, 1950s

A rare office furniture piece in wood, linoleum, and brass with compact dimensions, an original design by Gio Ponti for the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), Italian production from the 1950s.

It is unmistakable in its line: the geometric angle of the legs and the large brass terminals immediately evoke the pencil of Gio Ponti, the architect and designer who signed this piece. Four slender drawers with small metal knobs contained operational stationery for the Genoa branch of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. With its green linoleum top - austere and professional - and refined proportions, designed to soften the rigorous world of work, this small piece encapsulates the prosperous period where a unique and unrepeatable virtuous circle between industry and applied arts created the best of Italian design.

Major insurance groups, financial banks, and large offices chose the most significant architects and designers of the time to furnish and ennoble their representative spaces, striking a happy balance between aesthetics and functionality.

While many businesses from that era have disappeared, what remains are the objects born out of their willingness to bet on aesthetic innovation and the ideal of beauty accessible to all.

The furniture is offered restored and in excellent condition, appearing on page 91 of the June 1954 issue of "L'edilizia moderna." Its measurements are 103x40x40.