\u00a0<\/p>\n
When designboom visited Friedeberg in Mexico City, the artist described<\/strong><\/a> living deliberately out of step with contemporary culture. \u2018I try to live a very old fashioned lifestyle,\u2019 he told us<\/strong>, admitting he relied on an assistant to handle computers and email while he focused on drawing, painting, and reading. His studio mirrored this attitude: a dense, eclectic environment where classical music played and artworks accumulated like artifacts from an alternate architectural universe.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Despite decades of international recognition, Friedeberg remained skeptical of the contemporary art world and resistant to easy explanations of creativity. Asked what advice he would give young artists, he answered with characteristic irony. Real artists, he said, would never follow anyone\u2019s advice anyway. Becoming an artist, in his view, was simply a matter of fate.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n architecture turned dreamscape<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Born in Florence in 1936, Friedeberg moved with his family to Mexico City at the age of three, where he would spend most of his life and career. Originally studying architecture at Universidad Iberoamericana, he soon gravitated toward the artistic circles surrounding Mathias Goeritz and Remedios Varo, who encouraged him to pursue his own work. His first solo exhibition took place in 1959 at Galer\u00eda Diana in Mexico City, quickly gaining attention and leading to his inclusion in a retrospective of Mexican painting at the Museo de la Ciudad Universitaria the following year.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Although Friedeberg trained as an architect, the discipline left a permanent imprint on his work. His intricate drawings and paintings often resemble elaborate imaginary buildings, labyrinths, and ornamental structures.<\/p>\n Reflecting on those early fascinations during our studio visit, Friedeberg explained how architecture first captivated him as a child. \u2018I found them fascinating because in Mexico, there were no buildings like them. The perspective in which they were drawn and the detail mesmerized me. I thought gothic architecture was the best thing in the world!\u2019 he told us back in 2014.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n a surreal pastiche and the birth of the hand chair<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Friedeberg\u2019s practice soon evolved into a surreal and highly eclectic visual universe, drawing inspiration from a wide array of sources, including Renaissance architecture, surrealist storytelling, and graphic illustration. \u2018I think of my work as a pastiche. There\u2019s a little bit of everything I like in there, a bit of Piranesi, a bit of Beardsley, a bit of Escher,\u2019 he shared with designboom.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This playful hybridity became a defining feature of his work, most famously embodied in the hand chair he designed in 1961. Carved from mahogany, the sculptural chair takes the form of an upright human hand, with the palm serving as the seat and the fingers forming the backrest. Friedeberg recounted to designboom that the piece began almost as a joke while he was working with Goeritz and a master carpenter named Jos\u00e9 Gonz\u00e1lez. \u2018Truth be told, I made the hand chair half jokingly,\u2019 he admitted.<\/strong> Yet the object quickly became a sensation. Shortly after its creation, a collector visiting Friedeberg\u2019s studio ordered several chairs for a gallery in New York, launching what would become one of the most recognizable designs in twentieth-century art and design. Versions of the chair have since appeared in museums, galleries, and design collections around the world.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n los hartos and the rupture generation<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Beyond his objects and drawings, Friedeberg also played a role in reshaping Mexico\u2019s artistic landscape during the 1960s. In 1961, he joined Goeritz in founding Los Hartos, a group that included Jos\u00e9 Luis Cuevas, Chucho Reyes, Ida Rodr\u00edguez Prampolini, and Alice Rahon. The group rejected the grand narratives and seriousness associated with modern art, advocating instead for irony, eclecticism, and irreverence.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Friedeberg also became associated with the broader movement known as the Ruptura, a generation of artists who challenged the dominance of Mexican muralism and opened the country\u2019s art scene to international experimentation. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, his work was widely exhibited internationally, including presentations in New York, Paris, Washington DC, Lisbon, Munich, and numerous biennials across Latin America and Europe. His surreal architectural drawings, prints, and sculptural furniture entered museum collections worldwide while his exhibitions continued to expand across the United States, Europe, and Japan.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n an old-fashioned life inside a surreal studio<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Despite his international recognition, Friedeberg maintained an eccentric and deliberately old-fashioned lifestyle. When designboom visited him at his Mexico City studio, the artist described himself as someone who preferred a slower pace of life, far removed from contemporary digital culture. \u2018I don\u2019t even know how to use the internet properly,\u2019 he noted. <\/strong>The studio itself reflected the same layered aesthetic as his work, filled with artworks, books, sculptures, and architectural references that formed a dense personal universe. His tastes in music were similarly rooted in tradition. \u2018I\u2019ve been listening to the same classical music for almost 75 years now; Bach, Brahms, Boccherini, and Strauss.\u2019<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Friedeberg\u2019s reflections on art often carried dry humor and a skepticism toward contemporary trends. During the conversation, he spoke candidly about his mixed feelings toward much of what passes for art today. \u2018I don\u2019t like very much of it, because a lot of what people say is art isn\u2019t, in my opinion.\u2019 That wit extended to the hand chair itself, a work he sometimes joked had taken on a life of its own. \u2018Sometimes I fall out of love with the hand chair because I\u2019ve seen it so much now, but it\u2019s become an important part of my work as well, so I can\u2019t hate it completely \u2013 it\u2019s kept food on my table,\u2019 he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n project info:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n artist:<\/strong> Pedro Friedeberg<\/a> | @pedrofriedeberg<\/a><\/p>\n born:<\/strong> January 11th, 1936, Florence, Italy<\/p>\n died:<\/strong> March 5th, 2026<\/p>\n![\"inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/inside-surrealist-univese-late-artist-pedro-friedeberg-creator-iconic-hand-chair-interview-designboo.jpeg\")
Golden Hand Chair, 2013, mahogany wood and gold leaf, 79 x 60 x 60cm<\/p>\n![\"pedro_friedeberg_interview_22\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pedro_friedeberg_interview_22.jpg\")
Pedro Friedeberg on the roof of his home \/ studio with a giant fiberglass hand chair | portrait \u00a9 designboom<\/p>\n![\"inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772898920_610_inside-surrealist-univese-late-artist-pedro-friedeberg-creator-iconic-hand-chair-interview-designboo.jpeg\")
70 Years of Creation curated by Michel Blancsub\u00e9 at SAENGER Galer\u00eda | image via @pedrofriedeberg<\/a><\/p>\n![\"pedro_friedeberg_interview_02\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pedro_friedeberg_interview_02.jpg\")
view of Pedro Friedeberg\u2019s home \/ studio | image by \u00a9 designboom<\/p>\n![\"inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772898922_405_inside-surrealist-univese-late-artist-pedro-friedeberg-creator-iconic-hand-chair-interview-designboo.jpeg\")
Pedro Friedeberg sitting on his Hand Chair | image via Friedeberg Fine Arts<\/a><\/p>\n![\"inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772898923_279_inside-surrealist-univese-late-artist-pedro-friedeberg-creator-iconic-hand-chair-interview-designboo.jpeg\")
Doremifasolasidolandia, 2016 | image via @pedrofriedeberg<\/a><\/p>\n![\"inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772898923_297_inside-surrealist-univese-late-artist-pedro-friedeberg-creator-iconic-hand-chair-interview-designboo.jpeg\")
Astroclock-Ological Time, 1979 | image via @pedrofriedeberg<\/a><\/p>\n![\"inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772898924_878_inside-surrealist-univese-late-artist-pedro-friedeberg-creator-iconic-hand-chair-interview-designboo.jpeg\")
Gold Five Hand and Foot Table | image via Friedeberg Fine Arts<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n![\"pedro_friedeberg_interview_09\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pedro_friedeberg_interview_09.jpg\")
Pedro Friedeberg at his home \/ studio in Mexico City | portrait \u00a9 designboom<\/p>\n![\"pedro_friedeberg_interview_11\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pedro_friedeberg_interview_11.jpg\")
Hell is Other People<\/p>\n