Italian designer and architect Gaetano Pesce, known for his playful, brightly coloured furniture, has died aged 84, his official Instagram page announced Thursday.
The New York-based designer had been dealing with “health-related setbacks”, particularly in the last year, but had “remained positive, playful and ever curious”, the statement said.
“It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of visionary creator Gaetano Pesce. Over the course of six decades Gaetano revolutionised the worlds of art, design, architecture and the liminal spaces between these categories. His originality and nerve are matched by none.”
Among Pesce’s most iconic designs were the “Up” chairs, a series of pliable, anthropomorphic seats in foam and stretch fabric.
The most famous of these evoked the form of a voluptuous woman, tethered to a spherical footstool, intended to evoke the subjugation of women by men.
