Eleonore Peduzzi-Riva

Eleonore Peduzzi Riva (1939–) is an Italian designer and architect. Born in Milan but raised in Basel, she returned to Italy in the late 1950s to further her studies at the Politecnico di Milano. Remaining in the city, she opened her own studio in the early years of the following decade in collaboration with her husband, engineer Carlo Riva. In this first phase of her career, Eleonore Peduzzi Riva worked mainly in interior design, focusing on renovations of private houses and villas, alongside larger-scale projects such as the new Milan offices of Swiss film producer Walter Guertler, which gave her the opportunity to collaborate with Cassina on the furniture. In parallel, she pursued a more occasional activity in product design, working with brands such as Artemide and Vistosi. In this field, her most famous creation is undoubtedly De Sede’s DS-600 “Snake” sofa, designed in collaboration with Ueli Berger, Klaus Vogt, and Heinz Ulrich. However, rather than focusing on individual products, Eleonore Peduzzi Riva preferred working on complex systems—an inclination that led her, between the 1980s and 1990s, to concentrate mainly on the concept of coordinated brand identity for the companies she worked with, taking care of catalogues, art direction, and exhibition displays. In this role she collaborated with ICF, De Padova, Abet Laminati, Fiorucci, and many others.