Ettore Sottsass

Designer

Milano / Italy

Ettore Sottsass jr was one of the most important figures on the 20th-century artistic scene. He worked in architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, poetry and, to a greater extent, product design. Born in Innsbruck in 1917, son of architect Ettore Sottsass Senior, he graduated from the Turin School of Architecture in 1939. In 1947, he moved to Milan, where he opened an office. As consultant to the Olivetti company, he participated in creating Elea 9003, the first Italian computer, for which he received the Compasso d'Oro award in 1959. Again for Olivetti, he created the Tekne 3, Praxis 48, and Summa 19 typewriters awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1970 and Valentine, better known as La rossa portatile, which made him known to the general public.

Ettore Sottsass questioned society's bourgeois codes of the era through the language of architecture and design. He opposed the perversions of consumerism with sensorial and spiritual design, in which dialogue among opposites, colour and imagination played a central role. In the 1970s, he joined radical movements like Alchimia and began working with Poltronova, of which he became artistic director, as well as Alessi, Brionvega, Zanotta. Sottsass founded Global Tools, a counter-school of architecture and design, with Ugo La Pietra, Gaetano Pesce and Michele de Lucchi. That experience led to the birth of the Memphis Group, a collective composed of Sottsass himself, Michele de Lucchi, Matteo Thun, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Marco Zanini and George Sowden. Memphis was also a brand, presenting its first collection in 1981, consisting of 55 products, including objects that have marked design history. Sottsass exhibited the Carlton bookcase, the Casablanca cabinet, the Treetops floor lamp, the PostDesign series: long furniture, just to name a few. The products designed by the collective, progressively joined over time by other designers, are still marketed by Memphis Milano.

At the same time as the Memphis group, which was dissolved in 1987, Ettore Sottsass founded Sottsass Associati with Marco Zanin and Aldo Cibic. Their clients included such prestigious brands as Artemide, Roche Bobois, Kaldewei, Stilnovo, B&B Italia, Knoll, Zanotta. Sottsass designed Memphis-style furniture for Oak, cutlery sets for Alessi, ceramic sculptures for Mirabili, coverings for Alpi, mirrors for Glas Italia, blown glass lamps and vases for Venini, expressing his exuberant and inexhaustible creativity.

Products designed by Ettore Sottsass

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Ettore Sottsass

Designer

Milano / Italy

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Products designed by Ettore Sottsass

ULTRAFRAGOLA - PETG mirror/lamp

ETRUSCO - Wooden hallway unit with mirror

CALIFFO - 3 seater Straight fabric sofa

ORFEO - Glass and aluminium chandelier

CRAZY HORSE - Square iron table with HPL top

HERA - Metal table lamp

CALLIMACO - LED floor lamp

PAUSANIA - LED resin table lamp

PILASTRO - Low technopolymer stool

ALPI SOTTSASS GREY - Wooden wall tiles

CALICE - Round technopolymer vase

COLONNA - Low technopolymer stool

ALPI SOTTSASS RED - Wooden wall tiles

VALIGIA - Metal table lamp

ALPI SOTTSASS ORANGE - Wooden wall tiles

FIRENZE - Blown glass ceiling lamp

GLI SPECCHI DI DIONISO 1 - Square wall-mounted framed mirror

PUZZLE - Handmade blown glass vase

GLI SPECCHI DI DIONISO 5 - Square wall-mounted framed mirror

SYBILLA - Freestanding hall mirror

GLI SPECCHI DI DIONISO - Rectangular wall-mounted framed mirror

KIRITAM - Blown glass table lamp

GLI SPECCHI DI DIONISO 4 - Wall-mounted framed mirror

GLI SPECCHI DI DIONISO 6 - Round wall-mounted framed mirror

YEMEN - Blown glass decorative object

SHIBAM 1 - Rectangular mirror

BHUSANAM - Blown glass table lamp

NOPURAM - Blown glass table lamp

OMAN - Blown glass decorative object

MARITO E MOGLIE - Handmade blown glass vase

DARPANAH - Blown glass table lamp

MANDALA - Wall-mounted framed mirror

BACTERIO - Decorative laminate

RATRIH - Blown glass floor lamp

GLI SPECCHI DI DIONISO 2 - Square wall-mounted framed mirror

GOBURAM - Blown glass vase

SHIBAM 2 - Rectangular mirror with integrated lighting

FIRENZE - Handmade blown glass pendant lamp

ALPI SOTTSASS DARK BROWN - Decorative multilaminar wood veneer

SHIVA - Ceramic vase

SHIVA - Ceramic vase

ODALISCA - Ceramic sculpture

Mobile 6 - Mirror-covered sideboard

Mobile 3 - Wooden bookcase with drawers

Tavolino 5-D - Round wooden coffee table

Mobile 1 - Laminate wardrobe

Mobile 8 - Highboard with doors

Mobile 2 - Wooden highboard with doors

Tavolino 5-C - Round wooden coffee table

Mobile 4 - Laminate highboard with doors

Mobile 7 - Ebony highboard with drawers

Tavolino 5-A - Round steel and wood coffee table

Tavolino 5-F - Square wooden coffee table

CHOCOLAT - Ceramic sculpture

Mobile 9 - Rectangular table

Tavolino 5-E - Round wooden coffee table

Tavolino 5-B - Square steel and wood coffee table

CLAIR DE LUNE - Ceramic sculpture

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