Design Dramatics
By Saara Mansoor

Born in Italy in 1939, Gaetano Pesce has traveled the world, and challenged and expanded notions architecture and design everywhere. He is one of the most well-known designers in the world today with many of his works in the permanent collections of major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and Museo D'Arte Moderna in Turin.

Pesce studied architecture at the University of Venice and design at the Institute of Industrial Design in the same city. He refers to himself as "architect-artist-designer" and has indeed done all three with gusto and imagination throughout his career. He architected several buildings before going into industrial design of lamps, chairs and furniture pieces. His fame as a furniture designer followed the design, in 1969, of the UP series: a set of soft, anthropomorphic, polyurethane-based seats.

Pesce is known for his unique exuberant design which is rich in color and unconstrained in form. His creations are sensous and emotional and a far cry from the cold geometric designs that pervades industrial design at times. Pieces with names such as "Verbal abuse lamp" and collections called "Nobody's Perfect," speak volumes for the kind of human drama that Pesce liberally puts in his work. He has said, "I have tried to communicate feelings of surprise, discovery, optimism, stimulation, sensuality, generosity, joy and femininity [in my work]." At the same time, Pesce has always insisted on using innovative building materials and new technologies. In fact, prominent architecture critic Herbert Muschamp described his Pesce's work as "the architectural equivalent of a brainstorm".

	Gaetano Pesce's Website
	Pieces by Pesce

One example of the innovative, artistic and design aesthetics of Pesce is the series of chairs commissioned by the Pratt Institute of New York in 1983. Pesce designed a series of nine chairs exploring the boundaries between art and design and testing the possibilities of urethane. The series begins with a chair so soft that it cannot support itself, but rather appears as a melting form which cannot be used. As the series progresses, the material hardens so that the ninth and final chair is the most rigid. Chair Number 3 is quoted as one that "can support a child while remaining an object of contemplation for the adult." Such philosophical thoughtfulness mingled with vibrant design and technological innovation is typical of Pesce's non-conformist and experimental work.

Since 1980, Pesce has been living and working in New York and continues to challenge conventional notions in painting, sculpture, and architecture.