gaetano pesce foundation launches to preserve and continue the architect’s practice

gaetano pesce foundation to continue the architect’s work

The Gaetano Pesce Foundation carries forward the work of Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce (1939–2024), extending a practice that treated design as a way of thinking. Announced alongside Gaetano Pesce Studio: Continued at Salon 94, the nonprofit will safeguard his archive of objects, drawings, prototypes, and documentation while supporting exhibitions, publications, scholarship, and authorized editions.

Pesce’s work repeatedly moved between art, design, architecture, performance, and social commentary. The foundation positions that refusal of strict categories as a central part of its mission, carrying forward an approach in which objects and projects functioned as vehicles for experimentation. The foundation was established according to a vision Pesce set out before his passing. Its board is responsible for preserving his archive and legacy while guiding research, educational initiatives, institutional partnerships, and the continued production of authorized editions.

original UP chair | image courtesy of Gaetano Pesce

a board built around Pesce’s collaborators

Giulia Tosciri serves as director after working closely with Pesce for many years, including on the complex operations surrounding his practice. Glenn Adamson, the design historian, author, and curator who was a close friend of Pesce and a scholar of his work, serves as president and oversees the foundation’s academic direction and institutional partnerships. ‘On the occasion of Gaetano Pesce Studio: Continued at Salon 94, we’re excited to announce the creation of this new non-profit dedicated to the legacy and vision of the maestro. Radical, poet, and provocateur, Pesce is one of the most influential figures in art and design of the past century,’ he shares, announcing the launch of the foundation with a post on his Instagram account.

Michael J. Greenberg serves as secretary and brings his experience as counsel to the Gaetano Pesce Estate since 2023. Edward Secker, a longtime friend of Pesce, is treasurer and oversees the foundation’s finances. Alessandro Byther joins the board as director while continuing as creative director and head of production at Gaetano Pesce Studio, the artist’s original workshop at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Byther has worked alongside Pesce for more than a decade and continues to oversee the hand-produced realization of his edited works. For Adamson, Pesce’s resistance to fixed categories was fundamental to his practice. In one of their last interviews, Pesce described this freedom in direct terms: ‘To be free means to be incoherent.’

Come Stai?’ chairs at the Bottega Veneta Summer 2023 show in Milan | image © Matteo Canestraro

Bahia House – 1998 | image courtesy of Gaetano Pesce

Nice to See You exhibition by Gaetano Pesce at Biblioteca Ambrosiana

Organic building in Osaka, Japan (1989-93) | image courtesy of Gaetano Pesce

Tramonto a New York sofa (1980)

Luigi (o mi amate voi) | image courtesy of Gaetano Pesce

bookcase from Alberto Carenza’s apartment, 1969 | image © Gaetano Pesce, courtesy of the Gaetano Pesce Office

the Pescetrullo concept and architectural design, 2008 | image courtesy of Gaetano Pesce’s office

project info:

name: Gaetano Pesce Foundation | @gaetano.pesce
director: Giulia Tosciri
president: Glenn Adamson
secretary: Michael J. Greenberg
treasurer: Edward Secker
director: Alessandro Byther
creative director, Gaetano Pesce Studio: Alessandro Byther
visual identity: Matthew Bannister