Design Miami Basel 2024 honors Gaetano Pesce

As the design world gathers in Basel this week for Design Miami Basel 2024, the fair is paying tribute to the late Gaetano Pesce, who passed away last April. The exhibition was designed by Design Miami-run gallery Friedman Benda, as well as debut galleries Pulp Galerie and downtown+. As part of the fair, several galleries, including Pulp Galerie, Galerie Gastou and Capsule Lounge, in collaboration with do you read me?! & Kodoji Press, also honored the designer as part of the fair, offering visitors a comprehensive experience into Pesce's creative world.

Gaetano Pesce at Design Miami Basel 2024

“Gaetano Pesce was the most independent designer of recent times,” says Glenn Adamson in his introduction to the tribute. “He was also one of the most influential – a role model for countless others. Perhaps these two things belong together, because contradiction was at the core of Pesce's creative vision.”

Among the exhibits that greet fair visitors are zoomorphic seating for Meritalia, the Feltri armchair for Cassina and resin objects that Pesce created in his New York studio. Also on display are his oversized Moloch floor lamp from the 1970s and the Up 1 armchair for B&B Italia. The exhibition's diverse offering provides an insight into Pesce's versatile and expressive approach to furniture.

“He was devoted to personal expression and also enjoyed working with manufacturers to find ways to get them to embrace experimental processes. A true avant-gardist, Pesce's work has a depth that rewards close exploration. But it also spoke loudly and clearly, in a way that even a child – perhaps especially a child – could understand,” Adamson continues.

“Pesce believed above all in creating what he called 'objects of our time.' That meant working with plastic and other modern materials. It meant constant innovation. But looking back, we can see that his great theme was the human condition itself, which never really changes.”

Adamson further describes the designer's work as “tragic and joyful, ecstatic and conceptual, anarchic and precise. His influence on the future of design is only just beginning.”