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Gaetano Pesce, architect, designer and urban planner who was a leader of Italy’s radical design movement, died on April 3 at the age of 84. His studio confirmed the news via an Instagram post on April 4, which addressed health-related issues, especially in the past year.
Pace was born in La Spezia, Italy, in 1939, just two months before the outbreak of World War II. From 1958 to 1963 he studied architecture at the University of Venice. ‘In the 1960s, Pesce was part of Gruppo N, an early collective that followed Bauhaus principles. He subsequently taught architecture for 28 years at the School of Architecture of the City of Strasbourg, France. at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; at Domus Academy in Milan; at the Hong Kong Polytechnic; São Paulo School of Architecture; and Cooper Union in New York. Among his architectural works, his 1990 Organic Building in Osaka, Japan, is perhaps the most famous. Its rhythmic round planter facade reflects the architect’s rejection of modernism’s pursuit of purity and rigidity.
Pace was rebellious at every turn, and this spirit was particularly evident in his industrial work, from the end of the last century ‘the 60’s. Here, the pioneer blurred the lines between art and design, experimented with materials and colors, and dared to ruffle feathers.arrive one, he recalled a time in Venice when, with his wife and Peggy Guggenheim, he used a Giacometti sculpture as a coat rack, an example that cemented this approach. “I thought the sculpture would buckle under the weight of the coat, but it actually resisted. That night my suspicion was confirmed, that art is always functional and useful and a bearer of meaning,” he said.
B&B Italia’s 1969 Up5 chair is an important part of this. The instantly recognizable curvaceous, plump chair and matching ball footstool are often interpreted as mother and child, or ball and chain, a comment on women’s lack of freedom. That same year, he proposed a design to an Italian company that would have an ashtray in the shape of Christ’s crucified hands so that the ashes could be poured directly into the bloody crevices, but they refused.
The designer’s modernist style is a combination of playfulness and subversion, a way of interpreting the world and envisioning the future. This remained true in his experiments with resin. Since 1987, Pesce has experimented with mixing common materials with different additives, such as liquid vegetable resins, to simplify the manufacturing process and create more affordable products. In 1972 he established an experimental subdivision in Casina, where he continued to repeat his religious themes, creating the Golgotha Table, shaped like a cross and dripping with blood made of resin. He continues to use resin in recent works, including the colorful Come Stai? Chairs from the Bottega Veneta Summer 2023 fashion show in Milan.
His works have been exhibited in more than 30 museums around the world: Museum of Modern Art, Vitra Design Museum in Germany, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Center Pompidou, etc. In 1993, he received the Chrysler Innovation and Design Award. In 2006, he was named Architecture and Home Designer of the Year. In 2003, he received the Andre Putman Lifetime Achievement Award.
In a career that spans nearly 60 years, Pesce has successfully shaped and influenced the design world at every turn. Alisa Maria Wronski, who worked closely with the designer as former director of Pesce’s studio, paid tribute to Pesce’s influence on Instagram, writing: “Gaetano is more than a collaborator; He was an inspiration, a mentor and a dear friend. His absence leaves a void that can never be filled. Gaetano’s joyful spirit, curiosity, boundless imagination and dynamic personality left an indelible mark on all who knew him and his work. “
His planned exhibition at this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan is called Nice to see you – tired man, Still going ahead as planned. The show will showcase unreleased works and new works produced in the past year; all centered around messages that encourage thought.if it’s anything like architect’s past workthe exhibitions, objects and themes on display will continue to exist.
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