Pucci De Rossi (1947 – 2013), Italian furniture designer and artist

Pucci de Rossi was an Italian designer born in Verona and trained with American sculptor H.B. Walker. Pucci de Rossi (1947-2013) is an unusual designer and artist. Jewellery, furniture, sculpture, painting: his works, visually striking and functional, refer to Arte Povera and the neo-baroque work of the Memphis studio. 

Background

A pupil of the American sculptor HB Walker, Pucci De Rossi began his artistic activity in 1971. Sculptor of ideas, shapes, and materials strived to transform into everyday objects with imagination and humour.

Biography

Pucci de Rossi embodies the “sculpture furniture” trend in the early 1980s. Purely formal in appearance, steeped in irony, playing with diversion and irony, his creations are perfectly functional and useful objects. De Rossi liked to juxtapose material that evoked contrary feelings: for example, wood and steel.

The work of De Rossi became increasingly surreal, sometimes brutal, sometimes a deliberate neo-baroque semi-pastiche. Not only did he avoid classification, but he deftly avoided the growing debate about whether his design could be art. Calling himself a “fake designer,” he continued to produce aesthetically groundbreaking work at the end of the day.

Works

In 1982, he executed works in metal in New York. 

• Galerie Neotu produced his 1982 Tristan Table and 1985 Bear Rug. 
• 1991 Lido cocktail side table 
• Vizir console, 
• Lancelot candelabra 
• Diavola chair, Stephanie mirror 
• Parsifal coffee table 
• Battista table 
• Trident table
• Maya étagère. 

Exhibitions

His one-person exhibitions included; 

• Galerie Art 3 in Paris in 1973, 
• Galerie Le Metier d’Art in Milan in 1973, 
• Agora Gallery in Maastricht in 1974, 
• Galerie Caroline Corre in Paris in 1980, 
• Gallery of Functional Art in Los Angeles in 1986,
• Galerie Neotu in Paris in 1987 and 1989, 
• Galerie Lechanjour in Nice in 1988, 
• Institut francais de Cologne in 1990. 

His work was included in the;

• 1973 ‘Nuovo materiali del fantastico’ in Piombino 
• 1974 ‘AZ’ at the Loggione La Scacchiera in Padua 
• 1977 exhibition at the Studio Alchimia in Milan
• 1978 ‘Fil de Fer, Fer Blanc’ at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
• 1980 ‘4+4’ exhibition at the Centre Culturel italien in Paris
• 1980 ‘Le Metier d ‘Art’ at the Paris Musee des Arts Decoratifs 
• 1982 ‘L’Art vivant’ in Paris
• 1984 (II) Biennale de Metier d’Art in Villeneuve-les-Avignon; 
• 1985 ‘Onze Lampes’ at Galerie Neotu, 
• 1986 ‘Design Beyond Senses’ at the Kunstmuseum in Düsseldorf. 
• His Divola chair was introduced at the 1991 (III) ‘International Contemporary Furniture Fair,’ New York. 

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.

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