In yesterday's post we looked at futuristic and natural inspirations in architecture, let's continue the thread, by exploring this dichotomy in the iconic "UP" series of furniture by Italian designer Gaetano Pesce.
Designed in 1969 and manufactured by C&B (Cassina & Busnelli; now B&B Italia), the UP series comprised seven designs all characterised by round organic shapes and forms referencing human anatomy and biology. The creations were considered as "invertebrate" designs as there was so internal structure inside them.
Some of the pieces were characterised by bulbous shapes or hollowed spherical forms (UP7 was instead a giant foot inspired by classical Roman statues), but one of the most famous designs from this series remains the armchair UP5 with the footrest UP6 that came in flaming red or in optical red and white stripes.
The armchair evoked the female figure and in particular ancient statues of fertility goddesses (think about the Venus of Willendorf), a sort comfortable womb with an attached spherical ottoman, calling to mind a female figure with a ball and chain on her foot.
The chair wasn't a hint at women's subjugation by men, as Pesce explained, but is was his own interpretation of women being unwilling prisoners of themselves.
Made in polyurethane foam and upholstered with elastic nylon and jersey fabric, the original models were packaged in PVC and sealed in a compressed flat vacuum package designed by Enrico Trabacchi that decreased their volume to ten per cent of their size.
When unsealed the chairs expanded to their original sizes and shapes (it took around 1 hour for UP5 to reach its final shape…), in this way Pesce believed the user was part of the design process.
This idea came to Pesce while he was in the shower and observed what happened to a sponge once it was compressed and released. Upon seeing a machine for building insulation that sprayed polyurethan foam in gaps in walls, Pesce took the inspiration further and oversaw the development of a new type of polyurethane with a different chemical formula that allowed him to squeeze his chairs down to a portable size.
The series presentation at the Salone del Mobile was a happening and caused a sensation for the futuristic Pop Art appeal of the pieces.
The designs were also accompanied by a visually striking advertising campaign shot by Klaus Zaugg that evoked the future Vs nature dichotomy and that featured models looking as if they may have just landed from a spaceship and UP chairs scattered among a natural landscape of rocks.
The armchairs became pretty popular: UP5, also known as "La Mamma" (The Mother"), "Donna" (Woman) or "Blown up" also appears in a fight scene in Diamonds Are Forever, accessorising the living room of John Lautner's Elrod House in Palm Springs.
The "UP" series was produced in the early '70s, but production was interrupted as the design showed some issues including the fact that the foam deteriorated.
B&B Italia resumed manufacturing the designs again in 2000, but the current versions of Pesce's iconic creations are not inflatable.
The UP series will turn 50 next year and you can bet that this event will be celebrated by both Pesce and B&B Italia, but, who knows, maybe for this anniversary we will see also some fashion designers bringing the creations back on the runway as inspiration or using them as background decoration for a runway show.
Fashion-wise maybe the nearest thing to Pesce's creations were the designs included in Comme des Garçons' S/S 1997 collection "Dress Becomes Body" (also known as the "lumps and bumps" collection), filled with pads that dramatically altered their silhouettes.
The creations were reinventions of the human body and challenged assumptions of female beauty, post-industrial bodies and notions of what is visually striking, sexually alluring or grotesque. And while this collection did not directly mention prisoners constricted by balls and chains like Pesce's UP5, the possibility of morphing one's body via temporary devices and technologies or permanent cosmetic surgery and other beauty procedures, hints at women being unwilling prisoners of themselves, the same theme behind Pesce's UP5 design.
