Space Age Pair of Armchairs UP by Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia. 1960s

In 1968, while in the shower, Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce looked down at the sponge in his hand and was instantly struck by how it returned to its original form after being squeezed. Not long after, in 1969, the Up chair and accompanying ottoman were born, and they were revolutionary in more ways than one.

Originally manufactured by C&B Italia and relaunched in 2000 by its current iteration, B&B Italia, the curvaceous Up chair was made of polyurethane and could be compressed to one-tenth its volume — flattened into a disk — for shipping. The most radical (and fun) part? Like Pesce’s sponge, it would permanently pop into shape once opened.

The piece's material innovation was remarkable at the time, while the silhouette of the chair, inspired by fertility goddess figures, is steeped in symbolism. Pesce, who initially named the set Donna, gave the chair an unmistakably feminine form, and the seat is attached to the spherical ottoman by an elastic cord similar to an inmate’s ball and chain. The designer has said this represents how “the woman is a prisoner of men’s prejudice and oppression.” Criticism of the use of freon, a greenhouse gas, to “pop” the chair into shape led B&B to shift to cold-shaped polyurethane construction when the chair was relaunched. Fifty years after Gaetano Pesce’s fateful shower, conversation about the Up chair endures.

Gaetano Pesce was of a generation of Italian architects who in the early 1960s rebelled against the industrial perfection of modernism by conceiving new furniture and objects that were at once expressive and eccentric in form; or you might say they were more like art than functionalist design.

Born in the picturesque coastal Italian city of La Spezia in 1939, Pesce was a precocious talent who could have forged a career as an artist but opted instead to go to Venice to study architecture because, as he has said, it was “the most complex of all the arts.” Rather than having new worlds opened to him at design school, however, Pesce found the rationalist curriculum oppressive in its insistence on standardization and prescribed materials and technologies.

Pesce wanted to explore the latest of both materials and technologies to create objects and buildings never before imagined, with what he called “personalities” that spoke to the issues of the day. He was keen to examine ways to diversify mass production so that each manufactured work could be distinct.

In 1964, Pesce met Cesare Cassina, of the forward-looking furniture company C&B Italia in Milan (now known as B&B Italia), for whom he would create many important designs, beginning with a collection of what he called “transformational furniture” — two chairs and a loveseat — made entirely out of high-density polyurethane foam. To make the pieces easy to ship and cost-efficient, he proposed that after being covered in a stretch jersey, they be put in a vacuum, then heat-sealed flat between vinyl sheets. Once the foam was removed from its packaging, the piece returned to its original shape — hence, the name Up for the series, which debuted in 1969.

In addition to these pieces, Pesce proposed for the collection something he referred to as an “anti-armchair,” which took the shape of a reclining fertility goddess, the iconic Donna.

Producing the piece's complex form turned out to be a technical challenge. Bayer, the foam’s manufacturer, deemed it impossible to accomplish. Pesce persisted and came up with a new procedure, demonstrating not only the designer’s key role in researching the nature and potential of new materials but also his vital importance in “doubting rules.” The Up chair and accompanying ottoman were born, and they were revolutionary in more ways than one.

In the early 1970s, Pesce began exploring one of his key concepts, the idea of the industrial originals. Employing a mold without air holes, and adding a blood-red dye to the polyurethane, he cast a bookcase that resembled a demolished wall, the rough edges of the shelves and posts resulting from fissures in the material made by trapped air.

Through his research into polyurethane, Pesce figured out a way to make a loveseat and armchair using only a simple wood frame and strong canvas covering as a mold. Since the fabric developed random folds during the injection process, the pieces were similar but not identical. Cassina named the suite of furnishings Sit Down and introduced it in 1975. By experimenting with felt soaked in polyurethane and resin, Pesce conceived I Feltri, another collection of armchairs introduced by Cassina in 1987.

Pesce went on to live a life that defied expectation and convention and along the way became one of the most seminal figures in art and design.

Find vintage Gaetano Pesce chairs, sofas, vases and more on 1stDibs.