Gaetano Pesce’s Set for Bottega Veneta Summer 2023 Show.

The Humanist architect-designer-artist Gaetano Pesce, is a towering figure in each of his fields; a true multidisciplinarian with an iconoclastic agenda who, despite a career spanning seven decades still refuses to be cowed or quantified. In numerous public and private works realised globally, in the fields of architecture, town planning, interior design, industrial design and exhibition design, the constant experimentation of an artist who refuses repetition infuses all.

In this unprecedented commission by creative director Matthieu Blazy for Bottega Veneta, Pesce was given creative carte blanche to produce a temporary site-specific artwork as show space for the Summer ’23 fashion show.

“This space is a tribute to diversity. It is about the human being; we are all different. People who say we are all the same—fuck them! We are all different and this is our defining quality—otherwise, we are just a copy. We are all originals, and this is one of the themes of my design,” says Pesce.

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Comprised of a sculptural resin floor and 400 chairs, a new design for Pesce and his first original chair for a number of years—each is distinct and unique—reflecting the human beings sat upon them.

Called Come Stai?, the chair is a cotton canvas based on traditional toile fabric dipped in coloured resins, at times featuring hand drawings. Each is unique and is part of a ‘diversified edition’ contained within the wider work.

“Gaetano said to me: “When you think of me, you have to think, ‘Come Stai?’ – and you have to reply, ‘Tutto Bene!’“That’s how I think about Gaetano and that’s why it’s the name of the chair,” explains Blazy.

This edition of 400 pieces will go on to be exhibited at Design Miami (30th November – 4th December) where the chairs will be available for purchase.

“As a designer, I make originals, not standardised series; that’s the old way—this is the new way. And this is a fashion company that did a fantastic job in helping me realise such a project. It is a message that is super political—and it is not a museum or a gallery that is helping me convey it. Who makes culture today? The museum or the fashion company? It is food for the brain—not for pay. If we see the same thing each day, then we die,” Pesce exclaims.

Polyurethane Houses in Puglia by Gaetano Pesce, Gabriele Pimpini & Studio Talent.

Commissioned by Caterina Tognon, the two mini houses are the portrait of the gallerist and her husband with faces full of expression—pink for her and blue for him.

[Images courtesy of Bottega Veneta.]