Gaetano Pesce (1939-2024) Italian, 1939-2024

Gaetano Pesce (1939–2024) occupies an essential place in the history of contemporary design. Born in La Spezia and trained at the IUAV University of Venice, he became involved in the research of Gruppo N in the 1960s, an avant-garde movement exploring the relationships between programmed art, perception, and new technologies. This experience had a lasting impact on his conception of design as both a critical tool and a means of production.

Rejecting the rationalism inherited from modernism, Pesce developed a deeply humanist approach from an early stage. For him, objects should never be perfectly identical; rather, they should reflect the differences, accidents, and singularities that characterise each individual. This thinking gave rise to the concept of “serial uniqueness,” according to which industrial processes can produce objects that are all different, particularly through the properties of materials such as cast resin, expanded foams, and coloured elastomers.

Throughout his career, Gaetano Pesce designed objects that have become emblematic of design history, including the Serie UP for B&B Italia, Golgotha, Sansone, Feltri, Broadway, and the experimental productions of Fish Design. Architecture, furniture, objects, scenography, and installations are, for him, part of the same reflection on human diversity, imperfection, and creative freedom. The boundaries between art, design, and architecture disappear in favour of a transdisciplinary practice in which each project becomes a manifesto.

Based in New York from the 1980s onwards, Pesce pursued an international career marked by numerous solo exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, MAXXI in Rome, Vitra Design Museum, Triennale Milano, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His works are held in the permanent collections of MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou, Vitra Design Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and numerous other international institutions.

Beyond their experimental dimension, Gaetano Pesce’s creations carry a deeply political message. Whether denouncing inequality, celebrating diversity, or challenging aesthetic norms, each of his works asserts that design can be a tool for social transformation. Galerie Ketabi Bourdet focuses particularly on presenting his historical creations, highlighting their uniqueness, material richness, and importance within the history of collectible design.