Arriving today, April 4th, is the sad news of the passing of Gaetano Pesce (1939, La Spezia), a designer and sculptor who was able to revolutionize the way of conceiving the encounter between art, design and architecture. But not only that, his collaboration in the past few years with the fashion house Bottega Veneta was iconic, demonstrating his ability to speak once again-and at the age of more than eighty years-with an extremely contemporary language. Bright colors, organic forms, these are just some of the characteristics that set him apart. Think of his countless vases, particularly the Fish Design collection made in the 1990s that paved the way for the use of resin in product design. Or the Up series including the iconic Up5 seat that echoes the soft forms of votive statues to the goddess of fertility, which immediately became a political manifesto on the status of women. Visionary and forerunner, this is how Gaetano Pesce, whose passing we mourn today and who once again leaves us with a surprise, will in fact be the exhibition during the Fuorisalone in Milan – already scheduled – to reveal his last intuition.

I love soft, moody materials that are affected by atmospheric pressure and humidity, and reflect the liquid nature of our time where values rise and fall like the tides.” she says pressing her index finger on one of her sprawling vessels. I use textures with an inherent femininity. Can you feel it? It is soft like a womb. The female mind is elastic, moving in all directions. Throughout the day, woman changes identity all the time, she is wife, lover, worker, mother, akin to the multiplicity of today.

Gaetano Pesce, Living Corriere

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