Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia Up7 Il Piede Postmodern Lounge Chair, Black, 1969
View Similar Items
Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia Up7 Il Piede Postmodern Lounge Chair, Black, 1969
About the Item
- Creator:Gaetano Pesce (Designer),B&B Italia (Manufacturer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Width: 65 in (165.1 cm)Depth: 32 in (81.28 cm)
- Style:Post-Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1990s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. As is typical of this iconic design over time, there are slight imperfections and such that develop on the black foam surface.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4190314125021
Gaetano Pesce
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.
B&B Italia
In 1966, Piero Ambrogio Busnelli cofounded C&B Italia, a modern Italian furniture manufacturer, with Cesare Cassina in northern Milan. From the outset, Busnelli and Cassina set about recruiting the most talented modernists in Italy to conceive of creative furnishings manufactured in modern ways. In the early 1970s, the company split, with Cassina founding his own eponymous firm and Busnelli taking leadership of what became B&B Italia.
For decades, Busnelli cultivated relationships with the world’s best design talent, resulting in furniture pieces that remain iconic today — be they Gaetano Pesce’s outwardly curvaceous Up seating (made for C&B, reintroduced by B&B) or tables from industrial designer Paolo Piva, each more sophisticated than the next in their geometrically complex steel-tube bases. B&B Italia earned four prestigious Compasso d’Oro design awards: in 1979 for Mario Bellini’s Le Bambole, in 1984 for the Sisamo wardrobe system by Studio Kairos, in 1987 for Antonio Citterio’s modular Sity sofa and, in 1989, the first award given to a manufacturing company itself.
Other notable names who designed for B&B Italia over the course of its 54-year history include Patricia Urquiola, Naoto Fukasawa, Zaha Hadid, Ettore Sottsass and Vincent Van Duysen, to name a very few. And while these names bring star power to the B&B brand, in many cases, it was B&B Italia who helped usher in their celebrity, fostering a wave of design talent on the world stage.
The company’s forward-thinking vision manifested in its own headquarters, too: In 1972, B&B Italia tapped architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers to design a steel-framed, postmodern-style home for the brand, whose crisscrossing metal exoskeleton is reminiscent of the pair’s Centre Pompidou in Paris, which was built at roughly the same time. Now, B&B Italia manages a contract division and outdoor section as well as its residential arm, and it also controls production for Maxalto, a brand spun out with furniture designs by Antonio Citterio.
At 1stDibs, find a range of vintage B&B Italia furniture — including sofas, cocktail tables and more.
- Vintage Eames Vitra La Chaise Chair, Original, Fiberglass First Generation, 1992By Vitra, Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Brooklyn, NYCharles and Ray designed the iconic "La Chaise" lounge chair for The Museum of Modern Art’s 1948 International Competition for Furniture Design. Its name references both its functio...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsStainless Steel
$18,460 Sale Price35% Off - Gieger Lounge Chair and Ottoman, Rosewood & Black Leather, Arflex Italia, 1960sBy Martin Grierson, ArflexLocated in Brooklyn, NYGieger Lounge Chair and Ottoman, Rosewood & Black Leather, Arflex Italia, 1960s Shell constructed of three elements of rosewood that connect via a fantastic black steel joint. Shel...Category
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsStainless Steel
- Ward Bennett for Brickel Black Ash Scissor Lounge Chair, Red Wool Bouclé, 1984By Ward BennettLocated in Brooklyn, NYWard Bennett for Brickel Assoc. black Ash Scissor Lounge Chair, Red Wool Bouclé, 1984, New York. Black lacquered ash, red wool upholstery, metal tags to each. Ward Bennett’s story is a remarkable one. His career began at age 13, when he quit school to work in the garment district in New York City. At 15, he designed his first clothing collection; at 16 he left for Europe, where he continued working on fashion design. While in Europe, he attended art schools in Florence and Paris, but he was mostly self-taught, with skills that ranged from illustrating, sculpting, and jewelry-making to furniture, interior, and home design. “I learn from people,” he once said, referencing a long line of influences, including Hattie Carnegie, Hans Hoffman, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Bennett eventually settled back in New York, where his reputation earned him some of the day’s most affluent clients: David Rockefeller and Chase Manhattan Bank, Tiffany & Co., Sasaki, Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner. Another—former President Lyndon Baines Johnson—asked Bennett to design a chair for his presidential library that would be “a cross between a barroom chair and a courtroom chair...Category
Late 20th Century American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsWool, Ash
$2,640 Sale Price / item44% Off - Ward Bennett for Brickel Black Ash Scissor Lounge Chairs, Red Wool Bouclé, 1984By Ward BennettLocated in Brooklyn, NYWard Bennett for Brickel Assoc. Black ash scissor lounge chair pair, set of two, red wool bouclé, 1984, New York. Black lacquered ash, red wool upholstery, metal tags to each. Ward Bennett’s story is a remarkable one. His career began at age 13, when he quit school to work in the garment district in New York City. At 15, he designed his first clothing collection; at 16 he left for Europe, where he continued working on fashion design. While in Europe, he attended art schools in Florence and Paris, but he was mostly self-taught, with skills that ranged from illustrating, sculpting, and jewelry-making to furniture, interior, and home design. “I learn from people,” he once said, referencing a long line of influences, including Hattie Carnegie, Hans Hoffman, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Bennett eventually settled back in New York, where his reputation earned him some of the day’s most affluent clients: David Rockefeller and Chase Manhattan Bank, Tiffany & Co., Sasaki, Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner. Another—former President Lyndon Baines Johnson—asked Bennett to design a chair for his presidential library that would be “a cross between a barroom chair and a courtroom chair...Category
Late 20th Century American Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsWool, Ash
$4,493 Sale Price / set53% Off - Confidential Cordovan Leather Lounge Chair, Alberto Rosselli for Saporiti ItalyLocated in Brooklyn, NYConfidential Lounge Chair, Cordovan Leather, Alberto Rosselli for Saporiti Italy, 1972. Original leather appears to have the shine, feel and...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather
$6,748 Sale Price / item30% Off - Edward Wormley Black Leather Janus Lounge Chair, Model 5701, Dunbar, 1957By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in Brooklyn, NYEdward Wormley black leather Janus lounge ch air, Model 5701, Dunbar, 1957 ash, leather; 33.75 H × 30.5 W × 34 D in; Stitched manufacturer's mark to decking ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Ash
$6,700 Sale Price50% Off
- UP1 Lounge Chairs by Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia, 2000sBy Gaetano Pesce, B&B ItaliaLocated in Renens, CHUP1 Lounge Chairs, designed in 1969 by Gaetano Pesce for C&B Italia (now B&B Italia): These lounge chairs are known for their distinctive, sculptural round form, and due to their structure being completely built up from polyurethane foam, they are incredibly comfortable. Like the Big Mama Chair...Category
Early 2000s Italian Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Foam
- “UP7” Pop Art Object by Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia, Italy 1960By B&B Italia, Gaetano PesceLocated in Amsterdam, NLA fantastic object, the iconic “UP7”, designed by Gaetano Pesce and manufactured by B&B Italia in Italy around 1960. This sculpture, which can also be used as seating object, is a b...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFoam
- Italian Design UP1 Lounge Chairs by Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia, 2000sBy B&B Italia, Gaetano PesceLocated in Renens, CHUP1 Lounge Chairs, designed in 1969 by Gaetano Pesce for C&B Italia (now B&B Italia): These lounge chairs are known for their distinctive, sculptural round form, and due to their structure being completely built up from polyurethane foam, they are incredibly comfortable. Like the Big Mama Chair...Category
Early 2000s Italian Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Foam
- B&B Italia Up7 foot by Gaetano Pesce NEW condition!By Gaetano PesceLocated in Izegem, BEUP7 by Gaetano Pesce (°1939, Italy), designed in 1969, produced by B&B Italia, from the 2000 series. The foot can be used as a lounge chair or as a decorative sculpture. Made of bla...Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsPlastic
$2,625 / item - Original Sculpture / Seat Mod Up7 Designed by Gaetano Pesce, B&B ItaliaBy Gaetano PesceLocated in Ibiza, SpainLarge seat / sculpture mod. Up7 designed by Gaetano Pesce in 1969 and edited by B&B Italia, 2000 series. Made of polyurethane foam painted in color black. Produced as part of the UP series...Category
Early 2000s Italian Lounge Chairs
MaterialsPlastic
- B&B Italia 'La Mamma' Up 5/6 Lounge Chair&Ottoman, Green Stripe by Gaetano PesceBy B&B Italia, Gaetano PesceLocated in Toronto, CASince its first appearance, the Up Series, designed in 1969 by Gaetano Pesce, has been one of the most talked about examples of modern furniture design. The exceptional visual impact...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Foam
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Ruth Lande Shuman’s Manhattan Apartment Is a Happy Rainbow — Thanks to Gaetano Pesce
Over the years, Shuman has filled her Park Avenue penthouse with the Italian designer's radically colorful creations. Here's how it all came to together.
With Their Rambunctious Faux Naïf Aesthetic, Young Makers Are Changing the Way We Think about Design
Following in the footsteps of Italian master Gaetano Pesce, these mostly millennial talents are embracing an intentionally imperfect style with wildly creative results.