As an architect, designer, and intellect, Gio Ponti loomed large in the Italian postwar design scene. Perhaps more than any other designer he embodied the maxim of his colleague Ernesto Rogers, who believed that designers should be engaged in all facets of design, “from the spoon to the city.” Courageously—from buildings and urban planning, to stage sets, sewing and espresso machines, lighting, ceramics, flatware, and textiles—Ponti shaped the look of postwar Italy. His furniture—remarkable wall systems, cabinets, “dashboard” headboards that incorporate radios and lights—is distinguished by attenuated angles, jaunty boomerang shapes, and splayed legs poised on delicate points. One of the rare 20th-century architects to embrace pattern, color, and a sense of theatricality, Ponti’s public and residential interiors are stage sets for living the good life. This exhibition at the Donzella Project Space reminds us of his breadth, freshness of vision, and consistency. —J. Abbott Miller