Ceretti, Derossi et Rosso

1932 —

Giorgio Ceretti (born in 1932), Pietro Derossi (born in 1933), and Riccardo Rosso (born in 1941) are three Italian architects and designers from Turin, considered key figures of the Radical Design movement of the 1960s and 1970s. After graduating from the Politecnico di Torino, they founded the collective Gruppo Strum in 1966—short for “Strumentalismo”—which advocated for an “instrumental architecture” in reaction to the dominant modernist trends. Their approach challenged aesthetic and social conventions, blending Pop Art influences with new forms of political engagement through design. One of their most iconic creations is Pratone (1971), a monumental polyurethane foam seat shaped like oversized blades of grass. Produced by Gufram, it became a symbol of Italian Radical Design and is now part of the collections at institutions such as MoMA in New York and the Vitra Design Museum. Other notable works include the Torneraj armchair (1966–1968) and the Puffo stool (1968), also made in collaboration with Gufram. Their work was featured in major exhibitions, including "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape" at MoMA in 1972, where they distributed visual manifestos called Fotoromanzi, exploring urban utopias and critiques of capitalist society. Although Gruppo Strum disbanded in 1975, Ceretti, Derossi, and Rosso continued their influential careers, with their works still widely exhibited and collected today.