Icon: Geatano Pesce

One of the most versatile and unconventional designers from the second half of the century, Gaetano Pesce has been expanding the notions and structures of Italian New Design throughout his entire career. He studied architecture and industrial design in Venice from 1959-1965, and went on to produce continually vibrant and radical work in painting, sculpture, film, theater, design and architecture.

In 1972 at the MoMA’s exhibition, “Italy: the New Domestic Landscape” Pesce was represented by his “Moloch” lamp. This design was an enormous reproduction of the popular swing-arm “Luxo” lamp. Some of his other important works include the elegant 1986 lamp series, including the “Airport,” “Square” and “Bastone” standing and wall-mounted lamps. His melted plastic “Samson and Delilah” chairs and tables (1980) are representative of his attempt to design “objects that have a propensity or an aptitude for meaning.” His furniture was produced by several of the major international names in design production including B & B Italia, Knoll, Cassina and Vitra.

Official Site: Geatano Pesce

Icon: Marc Newson

From mobile phones and restaurants, to a private jet and Ford concept car, Marc Newson has executed a range of projects in the past twenty years that most designers barely dream of. Born in Sydney in 1963, Newson spent his childhood in Europe and Asia before studying jewellery and sculpture at Sydney College of the Arts. After graduating in 1984, he lived on government grants while designing sculptural furniture and making it himself. His breakthrough came in 1986 when Newson exhibited the Lockheed Lounge, an elegant aluminium version of an 18th century chaise longue. The Lockheed Lounge became a media sensation and now commands hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.

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Buy the book: Marc Newson: Pop On/Pop Off

Playboy Designer Groupshot

1961 Playboy photo featuring left to right – George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom.

Portrait, from Playboy

Icon: Eero Saarinen

Born in Finland in 1910, Eero Saarinen was the son of Eliel Saarinen, a noted and respected architect. His mother, Loja Saarinen, was a gifted sculptor, weaver, photographer, and architectural model maker. Eero was taught that each object should be designed in its “next largest context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, environment in a city plan.”
Eero Saarinen produced a series of masterpieces of breathtaking individuality, including the 630-foot-tall, stainless steel St. Louis Gateway Arch and the TWA Terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.
The underside of typical chairs and tables makes a confusing, unrestful world,” said Saarinen. “I wanted to clear up the slum of legs.” Thus in 1957 Saarinen unveiled his groundbreaking collection of pedestal coffee, dining and side tables for Knoll, whose simple elegance has endured for over 50 years.

+ Biography
Recommended reading: Eero Saarinen

Icon: Alexander Girard

A corner-bound sample book of Girard designed wallpapers.

Chairs for Herman Miller special for Braniff Airlines

Vitra Wooden Dolls

Classic Pillow – Maharam Cushion Quatrefoil

Alexander and Susan Girard at the Herman Miller show

One of the biggest names in mid-century textile design is Herman Miller’s Alexander Girard (1907-1993), trained at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London and at the Royal School of Architecture in Rome.

Girard managed to inject an uninhibited use of color and a clever playfulness into the industry. He turned to countries like Mexico and India where a handicraft, or folk art, tradition still thrived, he developed a new method of coloring and patterning that proved to be a vibrant counterpoint to American modernist furniture.

Exhibition: Home of Finn Juhl

Danish architect Finn Juhl (1912–1989) is regarded as one of the greatest furniture designers of the 20th century. He was a pioneer figure within Danish furniture design and the Danish Modern movement, along with Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm, and Børge Mogensen.
The house, now open to the public was designed and built by Finn Juhl as a young architect in 1942, is a unique example of Danish modernism for both architecture, furniture design and the visual arts.

Home of Finn Juhl, Ordrup, Denmark, through 31 August, 2008
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Icon: Richard Serra

Criticized for being cold, imposing, dehumanizing, one of Serra’s major public works was removed by a committee from New York City’s Federal Plaza. Emerging in the 1960s, he was part of a generation of artists who worked to redefine what sculpture could be. After experimenting with a variety of materials, he settled on thick sheets of steel as his preferred material, and went on to create some of the most frightening spaces imaginable. His prints are just as ‘impressive’.

Short Biography Richard Serra

Icon: Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi, American (1904-1988), was the illegitimate son of Yone Noguchi, a Japanese poet who had gained great acclaim in the United States. More of a sculptor than a designer, the everyday objects he created are best seen as sculptures with a practical value, “things for everyone’s pleasure”. His sculptural style exerted a lasting influence on the whole organic design language of the 1950s. The furniture he designed for Herman Miller Vitra and Knoll are still in production today.

Isamu Noguchi Products: (top to bottom) Herman Miller Table, Knoll Cyclone Dining Table, Radio Nurse Speaker, Akari lamp