Vintage Up 1 La Mamma armchair by Gaetano Pesce for B and B Italia, 1969

n the early 1960s, the chemist bayer developed a polyurethane foam based on a new resin, enabling the simple creation of a variety of shapes. By the middle of the decade, Italian design publisher c et b had seized on and invested in the possibilities offered by this development. The company suggested that Gaetano Pesce, interested in new technologies and the potential they offered, experiment with this material: he developed the "serie up". The first editions had no load-bearing structure and consisted of a single block, simplifying the trans- port of the seat. Its volume was reduced by compressing it under vacuum in a hermetically sealed package. Once in place, the purchaser removed the packaging from the seat, which gently inflated back to its original shape and size, thanks to air penetrating the polyurethane foam cells. Originally published by c Reference : 292501