LA PAGNOTTA

Radical ideas and manufacturing wisdom: the perfect recipe to engineer comfort in the form of an armchair.

A mixture of opposites – thick and thin, soft and rigid – is the concept behind the forms of the two radical seats La Pagnotta and La Pagnottina, designed by Gaetano Pesce for Meritalia®.

La Pagnotta (Italian for "bread loaf") armchair evokes the Italian baking tradition. The mixing, kneading, waiting patiently for the yeast to work its magic and let the dough rise; then the shaping, and finally the baking: heat bringing together a mix of ingredients into something simple yet extraordinary like bread.

Far from being traditional in design and production, La Pagnotta is the epitome of engineered comfort: the structure presents fourteen flexible legs, which give shape to the armchair, and carbon fibre rods, supporting a lean seat and two cushions layered against the backrest.

In Italy, a pagnotta can be shared, but actually Meritalia®’s La Pagnotta is designed also to be enjoyed solo: an individual armchair, stuffed with ideas and dreams to imagine while snuggling upon it; or, thanks to the exposed structure, it turns into a radical throne, perfect for those who want to style up their seat.

Gaetano Pesce's multifaceted and polyhedral personality motivates his fame as a designer, artist, and architect. Through his work, Pesce has profoundly impacted the landscape of contemporary design, navigating a diverse career that spans architecture, art, furniture design, and sculptural works. "My career is not monolithic, but fragmented," this is how Pesce defined his journey, which began in the late 1950s and continued until 2024. Far from being linear, his path has been marked by bold eclecticism, leading him to engage with various design disciplines while demonstrating a penchant for experimentation and playfulness. Pesce challenged both aesthetic and functional conventions, creating objects with the immediate power to become unforgettable.

Since the early 1960s, Pesce has played a pivotal role within the radical design movement, characterised by an iconoclastic vision, aimed at breaking with the conventions of positivist modernism and exploring new creative possibilities. Through relentless innovation, artistic exploration and profoundly radical intellectual dynamism, Pesce emerged as a beacon of change, reshaping the landscape of contemporary design.

L 78, D 62, H 96 cm; 10 Kg