Remastering a Legacy: Saint Laurent Rive Droite Presents Gio Ponti - Villa Planchart Exhibition

For this year’s Salone di Mobile, Saint Laurent’s new cultural destination and creative retail Saint Laurent Rive Droite teamed up with the Gio Ponti Archives and the Fundación Anala y Armando Planchart on an exclusive collaboration. Situated in Brera, Milan’s artistic and cultural neighborhood, the exhibition showccases an impressive collection of porcelain plates curated by Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello.

Hidden in the heart of Milan, the exhibition takes place in a serene and solemn 16^th century ancient cloister, Chiostri di San Simpliciano. Amid the excitement of Milan Design Week, the exhibition is a tranquil stage where the tradition and modernity encounter. Hand in hand with historic Italian porcelain house Ginori 1735, Saint Laurent Rive Droite presents 12 original plates, reissued from Villa Planchart Segnaposto collection designed by the legendary Italian architect Gio Ponti in 1957. Hand painted in Ginori 1735’s Italian Manifattura, the plates are the culmination of artisanal heritage and luxury excellence, and a tribute to Italian design and craftsmanship.

The story of the plates dated back to 1953, when successful Venezuelan automobile dealer Amrando Planchart and his wife Anala reached out to notable Italian architect Gio Ponti on a special commission. As avid lovers of art and culture, the couple invited Gio Ponti to build an avant-garde villa on the highest hill of Caracas, Venezuela. Named as Villa Planchart, the residence was designed as a “light and graceful butterfly nestled on a hill”. Filled with creative inventions and bright and vivacious colors, the villa overlooks magnificent panoramic views of Caracas, perfectly fulfilled the Plancharts’ vision to modernity.

To finalize the interior decoration of the villa, Gio Ponti invited outstanding Italian artisans with traditional expertise. Among them was the Florentine porcelain manufacturer Ginori 1735, of which he had previously worked an artistic director. He designed a set of porcelain tableware, each piece a testament to his deft combination of functionality and artistry. Decorated with the symbols and motifs of the villa, the plates demonstrated Gio Ponti’s artistic flair and eye for detail. The Sun, the Crescent Moon, the Polar Star and magnificent iterations of the letter “A” – an homage to Anala and Armando, these elements elegantly presented a harmonious balance of color and form, evoking the villa’s altitudinal elevation and natural surroundings.

Not mere a homage to Gio Ponti’s legacy, the exhibition is a showcase of the finest Italian craftsmanship and design, as well as Saint Laurent’s exceptional taste and aesthetics. Open to public from April 16th to 21st, the Gio Ponti – Villa Planchart exhibition will be on view at Milan’s Chiostri Di San Simpliciano, coinciding with the Salone del Mobile 2024.

For those interested in owning the reissued Gio Ponti plates, they can find them accessible only on ysl.com, at Saint Laurent Rive Droite Los Angeles, Saint Laurent Babylone in Paris and, for a limited time and by appointment, at Saint Laurent’s Milan flagship on Via Montenapoleone during Milan Design Week.