Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia Big Mama Chair & Ottoman Set

Creator: Gaetano Pesce (Artist)
Design: Up 5-6 Lounge ChairUp & Ottoman Series
Dimensions: Height: 40.56 in (103 cm), Width: 47.25 in (120 cm), Depth: 51.19 in (130 cm), Seat Height: 16.54 in (42 cm)
Materials and Techniques: Black, Stretchable Jersey Fabric
Period: 1960-1969
Date of Manufacture: 2010
Condition: Excellent
Maker: B&B Italia; (*this is an original set, Not a knock-off version)
*neither the chair nor the ottoman are visibly labeled or signed, this is to be expected for this model. Validity of maker has been verified via the original showroom invoice.
Seller Location: Boston, MA, USA

Gaetano Pesce is of a generation of Italian architects who in the early 1960s rebelled against the industrial perfection of modernism by conceiving new furniture and objects that were at once expressive and eccentric in form; or you might say they were more like art than functionalist design. Pesce wanted to explore the latest of both materials and technologies to create objects and buildings never before imagined, with what he called “personalities” that spoke to the issues of the day. He was keen to examine ways to diversify mass production so that each manufactured work could be distinct. Up5_6 is the collection’s most famous piece and the only one in the collection to take on human overtones where the seat resembles an abstracted female form with a spherical ottoman attached by a rubber cord. According to the designer, UP5_6 symbolizes ‘the shackles that keep women subjugated’ with the ottoman representing a ball and chain. Whether it’s a fetishistic piece or a comment on women’s rights is still hotly debated but UP5_6 (affectionally known as La ‘Mamma’ or ‘Donna’ in Italy), remains one of the most important designs of the modern era.