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Ettore Sottsass

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Ettore Sottsass
Sottsass in 1969
Born(1917-09-14)14 September 1917
Innsbruck,Austria-Hungary
Died31 December 2007(2007-12-31)(aged 90)
Milan,Italy
NationalityItalian
OccupationArchitect
AwardsCompasso d'Oro,Sir Misha Black Medal
PracticeSottsass Associati
BuildingsMayer-Schwarz Gallery,Beverly Hills,California

Ettore Sottsass(Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th-century Italian architect from the twentieth century. He was notable for his furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office ware designs as well as numerous buildings and interiors, often defined by bold colours.

Early life

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Sottsass was born inInnsbruck,Austria, and grew up inTurin,where his father, also named Ettore Sottsass, was an architect.[1]The elder Sottsass belonged to the modernist architecture group Movimento Italiano per l'Architettura Razionale (MIAR), which was led byGiuseppe Pagano.

The younger Sottsass was educated at thePolitecnico di Torinoin Turin and graduated in 1939 with a degree in architecture.

After the invasion of Italy by the Anglo-Americans, Sottsass enlisted in the Monterosa Division, a division of theRepubblica Sociale Italianaled by Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party, to fight in the mountains alongside Hitler's army (Sottsass tells his adventures as a Lieutenant of the Monterosa Division in his autobiography "Scritto di Notte" published by Adelphi).

After his time in the military, Sottsass opened his own architecture and design firm in Milan, Italy. Here he started designing furniture and experimented with different color, patterns and shapes. His work was often associated with pop culture with his brightly colored whimsical objects. His pieces were often made out of glass and ceramic.

Early career

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After returning home, Ettore Sottsass worked as an architect with his father, often on new modernist versions of buildings that were destroyed during the war. In 1947, living inMilan,he set up his own architectural and industrial design studio,[2]where he began to create work in a variety of different media: ceramic, painting, sculpture, furniture, photography, jewelry, architecture and interior design.

Ettore Sottsass andFernanda Pivanoat their home in Milan in 1969

In 1949 Sottsass marriedFernanda Pivano,a writer, journalist, translator and critic.[3]From 1954 to 1957 he was a member of theInternational Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus,resigning due to the movement's perceived aggression and its lack of professionalism.[4]In 1956, Sottsass traveled to New York City and began working in the office ofGeorge Nelson.He and Pivano traveled widely while working for Nelson, and returned to Italy after a few months.

Also in 1956, Sottsass was commissioned by the American entrepreneur Irving Richards on an exhibition of his ceramics.[5]

OlivettiValentinetypewriter (1969)

Back in Italy in 1957, Sottsass joinedPoltronova[it],a semi-industrial producer of contemporary furniture, as an artistic consultant.[6]Much of the furniture he worked on there influenced the design he would create later with Memphis Milano.

In 1956, Sottsass was hired byAdriano Olivettias a design consultant forOlivetti,to design electronic devices and develop the first Italianmainframe computer,theElea 9003for which he was awarded theCompasso d'Oroin 1959.[7][8]His design for the MC 19 electric adding machine (withHans von Klier[it]) was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1970.[8]At Olivetti, he also designed office equipment, typewriters, and furniture. There Sottsass made his name as a designer who, through colour, form and styling, managed to bring office equipment into the realm of popular culture.[9]His first typewriters, theTekne 3and thePraxis 48,were characterized by their sobriety and their angularity. With Perry A. King, Sottsass created theValentinetypewriter in 1969 — considered today a milestone in 20th century design[9]and featured in theMuseum of Modern Art,Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum,London'sDesign Museumas well as theVictoria and Albert Museum.[10]

While continuing to design for Olivetti in the 1960s, Sottsass developed a range of objects which were expressions of his personal experiences traveling in the United States and India.[11]These objects included large altar-like ceramic sculptures and his "Superboxes", radical sculptural gestures presented within a context of consumer product, as conceptual statements.[12]Covered in bold and colorful, simulated custom laminates, they were precursors to Memphis, a movement which came more than a decade later.[13]Around this time, Sottsass said: "I didn't want to do any more consumerist products, because it was clear that the consumerist attitude was quite dangerous."[14][15]As a result, his work from the late 1960s to the 1970s was defined by experimental collaborations with younger designers such asSuperstudioandArchizoom Associati,[16]and association with theRadical movement,culminating in the foundation ofMemphisat the turn of the decade.

In the early 1970s he designed the modular office equipment collectionSynthesis 45.[17]

Sottsass and Fernanda Pivano divorced in 1970, and in 1976 Sottsass marriedBarbara Radice,an art critic and journalist.

When Roberto Olivetti succeeded as head of the company, he named Sottsass artistic director and gave him a high salary, but Sottsass refused. Instead he created the Studio Olivetti independent of Olivetti and became instantly the most creative international centre of design associating research with creation and industrial strategy. His concern that his creativity would have been stifled by corporate work is documented in his 1973 essay "When I was a Very Small Boy".[18]

In 1968, theRoyal College of Artin London granted Sottsass an honorary doctorate.[19]

Memphis Group

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Main article:Memphis Group
ArtemidePausaniatable lamp (1983)

With the rise of new groups (Global tools,Archizoom,Superstudio,UFO, Zzigurat, 9999...) the handmade style appeared suddenly as the new game for experimentation, a lot of these new groups playing in this new/old path to renew creation. In October 1980, Sottsass was confronted with two proposals, one from Renzo Brugola, a dear old friend and carpenter, telling him his will "to make something together like in the good old times," and the other one from Mario and Brunella Godani, owners of the Design Gallery Milano, who asked him to create "new furniture" for their gallery.

Ettore Sottsass founded the Memphis Group in Milan on 11 December 1980,[20]after the Bob Dylan song "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again"played during the group's inaugural meeting. The group was active from 1981 to 1988. The Memphis group was created in a reaction against the status quo. Sottsass centered the group's thinking around" radical, funny, and outrageous "—essentially, disregarding what was considered in" good taste "at that time. Art deco, the color palette of Pop Art and Kitsch theme from the 1950s inspired their work. Colorful laminate and terrazzo were commonly found in their work and incorporated in floors, tables and lamps.

Sottsass also designed his own print. This was a squiggles print also known as Bacterio print. For the print, Sottsass used inspiration from the surface texture and form of a Buddhist temple in Madurai, India, he then abstracted this detail into the squiggles he named Bacterio. This pattern was then used on their furniture designs in as veneers and textiles.

The Memphis Group was a postmodern, collaborative, architecture and design group founded by Sottsass in Milan Italy. The group focused heavily on furniture design with an emphasis on unconventional types. The designers became well known for their bright and bold pieces with clashing colors. At the time, furniture was solely meant to be functional. However, the Memphis Group sought to prove otherwise with their highly decorative pieces. They poked fun at everyday pieces and turned them into works of art. Many criticized and said it was just a trend that wouldn't last. Their unconventional ideas were controversial but have now become widely recognized and appreciated. The work continues to be influential throughout the world and can be seen in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Design Museum in London, The Museum of Modern Art in New York and many others.

Sottsass Associati

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AlessiNuovo Milanocutlery (1989)
Bus stop in Hanover (2001)

As the Memphis movement in the 1980s attracted attention worldwide for its energy and flamboyance, Ettore Sottsass began assembling a major design consultancy, which he named Sottsass Associati. Sottsass Associati was established in 1980 and gave the possibility to build architecture on a substantial scale as well as to design for large international industries. Besides Ettore Sottsass, the other founding members wereAldo Cibic,Marco Marabelli,Matteo ThunandMarco Zanini.[21]Later,Johanna Grawunder,Marco Susani,James Irvine,and Mike Ryan would also join the firm. In 1985, Sottsass left the Memphis Group to focus on the Associati.

Sottsass Associati, primarily an architectural practice, also designed elaborate stores and showrooms for Esprit, identities for Alessi, exhibitions, interiors, consumer electronics in Japan, and furniture of all kinds. The studio was based on the cultural guidance of Ettore Sottsass and the work conducted by its many young associates, who quite often left to open their own studios. Sottsass Associati is now based inLondonandMilanand continue to sustain the work, philosophy, and culture of the studio.

The studio works with former members of Memphis as well as with the architectJohanna Grawunder.It works for major companies likeApple,Philips,Siemens,Zanotta,Fiat,Alessi, and also realises the interior design of all the retail shops of Esprit (Esprit Holdings).

Notable achievements in design

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Miss don't you like caviarChair (1987) Courtesy Musée National d'Art Moderne-Centre Pompidou
  • Olivetti ELEAmainframe computer. WonCompasso d'Oroaward in 1959
  • Valentinetypewriter, Olivetti, 1969
  • Superboxcabinet, Poltronova, 1966[22]
  • SUMMA 19electronic calculator, Olivetti. Won Compasso d'Oro award in 1970[23]
  • Ultrafragolamirror, Poltronova, 1970
  • Tahitilamp, Memphis, 1981
  • Murmanskfruit bowl, Memphis, 1982
  • Carltonbookcase, Memphis, 1981
  • Malabarbookcase, Memphis, 1981
  • Casablancacabinet, Memphis, 1981
  • Enormephone, 1986
  • Miss don't you like caviarchair, 1987
  • Apollodoro Gallery,clock on display, seventh eventThe Hour of Architects,withMichael Graves,Hans Hollei,Arata Isozaki,Paolo Portoghesi,paintings byPaolo Salvati,Rome, 1987
  • Memories of Chinacollection, the Gallery Mourmans, 1996
  • Mandarinchair,Knoll,1986
  • Glass worksforVenini
  • Glass worksfor the CIRVA
  • Nuovo Milano– cutlery set designed with assistance of Alberto Gozzi in 1987 forAlessi.Won XVIth Compasso d'Oro award in 1991.[24][25]
  • Twergicollection, Alessi, 1989 and it sold for 60.000.000[citation needed]

Notable achievements in architecture

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  • Fioruccistore, 1980
  • Espritshowroom, Düsseldorf, 1985
  • Esprit showroom, Zurich, 1985
  • Esprit showroom, Hamburg, 1985
  • Building, Marina di Massa, 1985
  • Alessi showroom, Milan, 1985
  • Wolf house, Ridgway (Colorado), 1985 withJohanna Grawunder
  • Zibibbo bar, Fukuoka, 1989
  • Olabuenaga house, Maui, 1989 withJohanna Grawunder
  • Cei house, Empoli, 1989
  • Bischofberger house, Zurich, 1989 withJohanna Grawunder
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Ravenne, 1992
  • Ghella house, Roma, 1993
  • Green house, London, 1993
  • Motoryacht Amazon Express, 1994
  • Golf and club resort, Zhaoqing, 1994
  • Malpensa Airport, Milan, 1994
  • Nanon house, Lanaken, 1995
  • Van Impe house, Sint-Lievens-Houtem, 1996 withJohanna Grawunder
  • Alitalia waiting room, 1997
  • Bird House, Lanaken, 1998 withJohanna Grawunder
  • Kelley Residence, Woodside, 2000[26][27]
  • Roppongi Island, Tokyo, 2004
  • Sport house, Nanjing, 2004
  • Entry Gates of theW. Keith and Janet Kellogg Galleryat the campus ofCal Poly Pomona,1995

Other works

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As an industrial designer, his clients includedFiorucci,Esprit,the Italian furniture companyPoltronova,Knoll International,Serafino Zani,Alessi,Brondi,andBrionvega.[28]As an architect, he designed the Mayer-Schwarz Gallery onRodeo DriveinBeverly Hills, California,with its dramatic doorway made of irregular folds and jagged angles, and the home ofDavid M. Kelley,designer of Apple's first computer mouse, inWoodside, California.The interiors of theMalpensa Airport,inMilan,were designed by Sottsass in the late 1990s, but he did not architect the building.[29]In the mid-1990s, he designed the sculpture garden and entry gates of theW. Keith and Janet Kellogg Galleryat the campus ofCal Poly Pomona.He collaborated with well-known figures in the architecture and design field, includingAldo Cibic,James Irvine,Matteo Thun.

Enorme Telephone, Ettore Sottsass and David Kelly
Enorme Telephone

Sottsass created a vast body of work: furniture, jewelry, ceramics, glass, silver work, lighting, office machine design and buildings. He inspired generations of architects and designers. In 2006 theLos Angeles County Museum of Artheld the first major museum survey exhibition of his work in the United States. A retrospective exhibition,Ettore Sottsass: Work in Progress,was held at theDesign Museumin London in 2007. In 2009, the Marres Centre for Contemporary Culture in Maastricht presented a re-construction of a Sottsass' exhibition'Miljö för en ny planet' (Landscape for a new planet),which took place in theNationalmuseumin Stockholm in 1969.[12]In 2017, on the occasion of Sottsass' 100th birthday, theMet Breuermuseum in New York City presented the retrospectiveEttore Sottsass: Design Radical.[30]

One of his works—Telefono Enorme, designed with David M. Kelley forBrondi—is part of theMOMACollection, as well as many drawings. Design objects and drawings by Sottsass are also in the permanent collections of theMetropolitan Museum of Art,theDesign Museumin London, theVitra Design Museum,theBrooklyn Museum,theCooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum,the Stedelijk Museum,Los Angeles County Museum of Art,Musée National d'Art Modernein Paris,Philadelphia Museum of Art,and theMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston.

In 1999, he was awarded theSir Misha Black awardand was added to theCollege of Medallists.[31]

In 2023, his work was included in the exhibitionMirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at ChatsworthatChatsworth House.[32][33][34]

Publications

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  • Guia Sambonet,Ettore Sottsass: Movili e Qualche Arredamento (Furniture and A Few Interiors),Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1985
  • Hans Höger,Ettore Sottsass Jun.: Designer, Artist, Architect,Wasmuth, Tübingen/Berlin, 1993
  • Barbara Radice,Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography,Thames & Hudson, 1993
  • Francois Barre, Andrea Branzi, etc.,Ettore Sottsass,Centre G. Pompidou, Paris, 1994
  • Fulvio Ferrari,Ettore Sottsass: tutta la ceramica,Allemandi, Turin, 1996
  • Bruno Bischofberger,Ettore Sottsass: Ceramics,Chronicle Books, 1996
  • M. Carboni (edited by),Ettore Sottsass e Associati,Rizzoli, Milan, 1999
  • M. Carboni (edited by),Ettore Sottsass: Esercizi di Viaggio,Aragno, Turin, 2001
  • M. Carboni e B. Radice (edited by),Ettore Sottsass: Scritti,Neri Pozza Editore, Milan, 2002
  • M. Carboni e B. Radice (edited by),Metafore,Skirà Editore, Milan, 2002
  • M. Carboni (edited by),Sottsass: fotografie,Electa, Naples, 2004
  • M. Carboni (edited by),Sottsass 700 disegni,Skirà Editore, Milan, 2005
  • M. Carboni (edited by),Sottsass '60/'70,Editions HYX, Orléans, France, 2006
  • Ronald T. Labaco and Dennis P. Doordan,Ettore Sottsass: Architect and Designer,Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Merrell, London/New York, 2006
  • Sally Schöne,Ettore Sottsass: auch der Turm von Babel war aus gabrannter Erde (and tower of Babel was also made of terracotta),Wienand, 2011
  • Philippe Thomé,Ettore Sottsass,Phaidon, New York, 2014ISBN978-0714865843
  • Barbara Radice,Ettore Sottsass: There is a Planet,catalogue for exhibition at Triennale Design Museum, Electa, 2016
  • Francesca Zanella,Ettore Sottsass: Catalogo ragionato dell'archivio 1922–1978 CSAC/Università di Parma,Silvana, Milan, 2017
  • Fulvio Ferrari,Sottsass: 1000 Ceramics,AdArte s.r.l., 2017
  • Luca Massimo Barbero, Pasquale Gagliardi, Marino Barovier, etc.,Ettore Sottsass: The Glass,Skira/Rizzoli, Milan, 2017
  • Gean Moreno,Ettore Sottsass and the Social Factory,Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, 2020ISBN9783791358826

References

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  1. ^Sudjic, Deyan (2015).Ettore Sottsass and the poetry of things.Phaidon Press.ISBN978-0714869537.OCLC905521915.
  2. ^Pogrebin, Robin J. (1 January 2008)."Ettore Sottsass, Designer, Is Dead at 90".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved3 July2017.
  3. ^Ettore Sottsass.The Telegraph.2 January 2008
  4. ^Sadler, Simon(1999).The Situationist City.MIT Press. p. 5.
  5. ^"Take Care: Ettore Sottsass and Jesse Wine".ARTUNER.Archived fromthe originalon 2 April 2019.Retrieved3 July2017.
  6. ^"Ettore Sottsass Jr – Centro Studi Polotronova".Centro Studi Polotronova(in Italian). 1 January 1970.Retrieved3 July2017.
  7. ^"The Elea 9003 by Ettore Sottsass is still in working order".domusweb.it.Retrieved14 July2024.
  8. ^ab"I 16 Compassi d'Oro Olivetti".Associazione Archivio Storico Olivetti.7 March 2022.Retrieved21 July2024.
  9. ^ab"Designer who helped to make office equipment fashionable and challenged the standard notion of tasteful interiors".Timesonline.co.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 11 May 2008.Retrieved13 June2013.
  10. ^"Valentine".Victoria and Albert Museum. 14 March 1969.
  11. ^Radice, Barbara (1993).Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography.London, Thames and Hudson.
  12. ^ab"We Were Exuberant and Still Had Hope. Ettore Sottsass: works from Stockholm, 1969 – Marres Maastricht – Centre For Contemporary Culture".Marres.org. 10 January 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 15 April 2013.Retrieved13 June2013.
  13. ^"Home Content, Studio International".studio-international.co.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 9 August 2012.Retrieved29 April2014.
  14. ^"The most comprehensive archives of architecture and design content – Icon Magazine".iconeye. Archived fromthe originalon 28 July 2011.Retrieved29 April2014.
  15. ^"superunfoldedbox".Guykeulemans. 14 November 2009.Retrieved13 June2013.
  16. ^"Ettore Sottsass @ Art + Culture".Artandculture. 26 March 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 20 August 2012.Retrieved13 June2013.
  17. ^"How Ettore Sottsass reinvented the office space (while working on laughing gas and LSD dispensers)".Phaidon Press.
  18. ^"When I Was a Very Small Boy: Observatory".Design Observer. 31 December 2007.Retrieved13 June2013.
  19. ^"Ettore Sottsass".design-technology.org.
  20. ^"A Serious Case of PoMo… | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum".cooperhewitt.org.29 January 2020.Retrieved8 October2022.
  21. ^Sottsass, Ettore, ed. (1988).Sottsass Associates.New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
  22. ^"Ettore Sottsass Jr. / Superbox, 1966".FRAC Centre-Val de Loire.Retrieved18 March2020.
  23. ^"SUMMA 19".ADI Design Museum.Retrieved26 June2024.
  24. ^"Nuovo Milano".catalogo.living.corriere.it(in Italian).Retrieved18 October2020.
  25. ^Alessi, Alberto (1998).The Dream Factory: Alessi since 1921.Könemann. p. 29.ISBN3-8290-1377-9.
  26. ^"The Kelley Residence".Dwell Magazine.
  27. ^Zap, Claudine (28 April 2017)."'A Sculpture You Can Live In': $15M Woodside Home of IDEO Founder ".Realtor.
  28. ^"Collezione Musei".samha207.unipr.it.Retrieved5 September2022.
  29. ^Muschamp, Herbert (6 July 1997)."Concerned More About People Than the Planes".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved24 November2017.
  30. ^"Ettore Sottsass: Design Radical".The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum.Retrieved24 November2017.
  31. ^"The Sir Misha Black Medal | Misha Black Awards".mishablackawards.org.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 29 December 2016.Retrieved29 April2014.
  32. ^"Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth".chatsworth.org.Archived fromthe originalon 3 March 2023.Retrieved13 March2023.
  33. ^Bertoli, Rosa (17 March 2023)."Chatsworth House design exhibition explores contemporary design themes in an eclectic setting".wallpaper.Retrieved17 March2023.
  34. ^Madlener, Adrian (17 March 2023)."How Can You Make an English Manor Filled With Old Masters Feel Contemporary? At Chatsworth House, the Answer Is Cutting-Edge Design".Artnet News.Retrieved19 March2023.
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