If you have a keen interest in modern furniture design, then you will have heard of Ettore Sottsass. Unfortunately, Sotsass passed away on 31st December 2007 and as a result, there has been a resurgence in discussion of Memphis Design. Here we pay tribute to the life of Ettore Sottsass.
Born in September 1917, Sottsass grew up in Milan with his architect father. He graduated in 1939 with a degree in architecture himself but joined the Italiam military and spent most of World War II in a Yugoslavian concentration camp. After the war, he set up an Italian architectural design studio back in Milan.
In 1959, he began working as a design consultant, designing Olivetti technical equipment such as typewriters and calculators and their office furniture. He won Italy’s highest design award for his redesign of the Olivetti computer in 1959 by adding blocks of colour and lowering the machine so workers could see each other over the top.
At the grand age of 64, Sottsass joined forces with a group of 30-something designers in 1981 to form the Memphis Group. They launched with a collection of just 40 items, including amongst others, furniture, lighting and ceramics. Their iconic, colourful designs made history attracting many famous clients such as Knoll International, Esprit and the Italian furniture company Poltronova. In 2006, the Los Angeles Museum of Art exhibited his work in the US and in 2007 the London Design Museum held the Ettore Sottsass: Work in Progress exhibition.
Ettore Sottsass will be sorely missed as a great modern furniture designer.