the experimentables/2.
what comes to your mind when asked about italian design? many people might first think of „elegance“, or „modernity“. but how about „bold“, „futuristic“ and „experimental“? from our point of view, italian designers in the 20th century have often been drivers of progress, with advanced technical ideas, or the bold use of industrial manufacturing methods. one of the most versatile of them was (and is) gaetano pesce, *1939 in la spezia. as an artist and architect, urban planner and industrial designer he literally „made“ everything. from the ‚organic building‘ in osaka to the offices of chiat/day advertising agency in new york. he often experimented with industrial materials unseen in furniture making, starting with the famous ‚golgatha‘ chair for cassina (1972), formed from one piece of moulded fibreglass, cloth and polyester resin. his works can bee seen in museums all over the world, from milan to miami, from chicago to beijing.
pesce always had one thing in mind: humanity. “i like beauty full of mistakes because we are human. perfection is for machines, it is obsolete, gone,” he once said. and you can feel it in his organic, innovative, warm, sometimes imperfect and often witty designs. he tries to bridge art and design and to always make a statement about and for society. his iconic ‚up“-flat-pack-armchair for c&b italia (now b&b italia) recently celebrated its 50th jubilee. also called „la mamma“ the connected chair and stool could be seen as a mother-and-child-combination – or as a „ball-and-chain“ that ties women to their traditional role in a household.
in 1995 he designed the „triple play“ series of resin tables. we have two available in different size and heights: this table is the smaller and lower one shows a cartoonish face with moustache on a yellow background, also on steel rod legs, here with black feet (stamped underneath with manufacturer’s mark „fish design 72“ and 01/2019). It could be used as a side table to the bigger one or as a coffee table.
sources: maria cristina didero: ’super design – italian radical design 1965-75′, the monacelli press, new york, 2017; hans wichmann: ‚italien – design 1945 bis heute‘, springer basel ag, 1988; more about gaetano pesce on his own website: http://gaetanopesce.com
