Eleonore Peduzzi Riva: designer, architetto e consulente

Staged by Matylda Krzykowski (Curation and Spatial Design)

Eleonore Peduzzi Riva, who lives in Milan and Riehen, was awarded the Swiss Grand Prix Design 2023 in honor of her decades-long contributions to the field of design. Throughout her career, the architect also pursued interior design, product design, and art direction.

Growing up in Basel, Peduzzi Riva studied interior design at the Gewerbeschule Basel before relocating to Milan in the late 1950s to attend the architecture program at the Polytechnic. In the early 1960s, she and her then-husband, Sandro Riva, established an architectural practice in Milan, focusing on apartment conversions and private homes.

Eleonore Peduzzi Riva turned to product design whenever she identified a need. Her creations include a furniture system based on a single aluminum profile (“Lega Leggera,” 1959), a floor lamp whose material coils around the light source (“Molla,” 1979), blown glass works in the form of lamps (“Vacuna,” 1966) or bowls (“Pomeri,” 1972), a system for bathroom utensils (“Eleonore,” 1975), an ashtray (“Spyros,” 1976), or a silver carafe (“Jarra,” 2004). Notably, Peduzzi Riva’s work emphasizes open, flexible forms that can be rearranged, underscoring user freedom. This ethos is evident in the modular “DS 600” sofa, which she developed for de Sede in 1972 with three other Swiss designers.

As an art director, Eleonore Peduzzi Riva also shaped the visual identity of many companies. Her Milan studio, founded in the 1960s, was a valuable resource for Matylda Krzykowski, who explored its archives to create a scenographic display at Kunst Raum Riehen. The exhibition takes a contemporary look at the work of Eleonore Peduzzi Riva and thus pay tribute to one of Riehen’s most captivating creative minds.

We would like to thank for the support de Sede Switzerland, Bundesamt für Kultur BAK and Archiv Innenarchitektur Schweiz.