Review of Chiat\Day New York by Gaetano Pesce
Pulp Galerie presents Gaetano PesceThe CHIAT\DAY New York Project, the second report in the gallery’s new space in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. The retrospective brings together rare elements from the Italian designer’s experimental New York advertising offices in the mid-1990s. From March 26 to May 30, 2026, the exhibition revisits a moment when architecture, furniture and workplace culture merged into a living experiment.
His choice deskdoors and chairs originally created for advertising agency CHIAT\DAY. The exhibition reconstructs fragments of a project that once occupied the thirty-eighth floor of a Financial District tower. Destroyed just a few years after its completion, memories of these offices have long circulated through photographs and drawings. At Pulp Galerie, these objects return as physical evidence of Gaetano Pesce’s radical interiors.
Gaetano Pesce, The CHIAT\DAY New York Project, installation view, image courtesy of Pulp Galerie
A workplace as an open landscape
When Jay Chiat commissioned Gaetano Pesce in 1994, he envisioned a workplace free of fixed desks and rigid partitions. The Italian designer responded with a space designed as a flexible field of movement. The office functioned almost like a small town, where meeting spaces and work zones formed an informal network of routes and gathering points.
This spatial strategy reflected a changing understanding of work in the early digital age. Rather than arranging workers around fixed stations, the design encouraged constant movement and adaptation. One could set up in different locations throughout the day, responding to changing needs and partnerships.
Gaetano Pesce, The CHIAT\DAY New York Project, installation view, image courtesy of Pulp Galerie
Resin, paint and the expressive workspace
The Pulp Galerie shows that for Gaetano Pesce, material played a decisive role in this environment. Many architectural elements and furniture were cast in translucent resin, a medium closely associated with the designer’s work. Its surface captured pigment in swirling layers, producing objects that bore variations and subtle irregularities.
The exhibition at the Pulp Galerie presents several works that demonstrate this approach. Cabinet doors with uneven perforations and changing colors transform a functional element into an expressive surface. Nearby, the Waffle Table introduces a circular resin top supported by legs in contrasting colors, creating a composition that feels animated even when stationary. These objects reveal the designer’s interest in individuality and variety within repetitive forms.
Gaetano Pesce, The CHIAT\DAY New York Project, installation view, image courtesy of Pulp Galerie
The furniture as fragments of architecture
The TBWA\Chiat\Day offices show how Gaetano Pesce integrated furniture into a wider architectural language. Their resin surfaces reveal the imprint of a metal mesh embedded beneath the translucent layer. The grid also appeared throughout the office structure as a link between the furniture and the general framework of the interior.
Meanwhile, the highway door transforms a simple element into a narrative object. Behind a metal frame, the resin surface depicts a miniature roadway inhabited by toy cars. The images introduce a sense of movement that echoes the constant circulation within the workspace itself.
Taken together, these objects illustrate how the Chiat\Day office blurred architecture and furniture together. Offices, doors and partitions formed a continuous system that shaped the experience of moving through the space.
Gaetano Pesce, The CHIAT\DAY New York Project, installation view, image courtesy of Pulp Galerie
pulp galerie Revisits a lost interior
The original office only existed for a short time before being dismantled in the late 1990s. Its disappearance transformed the project into a legend, remembered through documentation and scattered artifacts.
So the Pulp Galerie exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see these pieces in person. Many retain traces of their former use, signs that speak of the energy of a workplace full of creative teams and constant activity. The installation recreates a small part of the atmosphere that once defined the interior of New York.
Gaetano Pesce, The CHIAT\DAY New York Project, installation view, image courtesy of Pulp Galerie
