Antonia Astori

ANTONIA ASTORI DE PONTI (Melzo, Milan, 1940) for Cidue.
“Cidonio” dining table, designed ca. 1968–69.
Chrome-plated steel and original 15 mm-thick glass, with a mirrored center disc.
In good condition.
Measurements: 73.5 x 130 x 130 cm.

Designed in the late 1960s, the “Cidonio” table particularly clearly embodies the pursuit of visual lightness and geometric precision characteristic of the finest Italian design of the period. The base is conceived as a bold architectural volume, lightened by vertical slits that fragment the reflections on the chrome-plated surface. The thick transparent tabletop appears to float above it, with its mirrored central disc establishing visual continuity with the pedestal and enhancing the play of reflections. The fact that the support is concentrated at the center also completely frees up the table’s perimeter, enhancing both the functionality and the clean lines of the piece as a whole.

Antonia Astori studied Industrial and Visual Design at the Athenaeum in Lausanne, where she graduated in 1966. In 1968, she founded Driade alongside her brother Enrico Astori and Adelaide Acerbi, playing a decisive role both in furniture design and in defining the firm’s identity. Among her most notable projects are the modular systems “Oikos,” from 1972, and “Bric,” later developed in collaboration with Enzo Mari—examples of her interest in understanding furniture as a true architecture of interior space.