I Feltri Chair
Design Date 1987
Designer Gaetano Pesce (1939–2024, Italian)
Manufacturer Cassina SpA (1927-present), Milan, Italy
Media wool felt, polyester resin, hemp string and cloth upholstery
Dimensions 55 x 25 x 29 inches
The frame of this I Feltri Chair by Gaetano Pesce is made entirely of felt saturated with epoxy resin. As a textile not usually used in furniture, felt is put to new use here. The flexible back of the chair is covered with quilted upholstery and can be adjusted to bring the arms of the chair closer to the user for a more enveloping experience, or to spread them out, like a throne. The thick felt for the base of the chair is soaked in a higher proportion of resin than the top of the chair, so that the top remains bendable to fold around the user while the base becomes stiff. The felt is then hardened in a mold and colored, and the base and back of the chair are laced together with twine. The chair’s materials and simplicity of production allow it to be produced at a low cost. Designer Gaetano Pesce said, “Many people say that the future will be more complex. I don’t believe that. Instead we will have shorter production runs—not millions of copies but 3000 or 4000. Technologies must therefore be inexpensive…. Feltri represents this idea very well. To make 10 copies of it is the same price as to make a million copies.”
ON VIEW in Promenade Gallery 2
Markings unmarked
Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Accession Number 2006.0002
