Ettore Sottsass is best known for creating the design group called Memphis, but many of his works have been well know as well. As a child, he enjoyed art very much, especially painting; however, Ettore Sottsass Sr. made his son study at Turin Polytechnic to become an architect in 1939. Throughout his life, Sottsass would always take photographs of almost “everything that caught his eye” and drew inspiration from the cultures and environments around him (designmuseum.org). He was also skilled in the art of ceramics, so when he ventured to New York in 1956, Sottsass was commissioned for a number of ceramic projects in addition to focusing on industrial design. During this period of industrial and product design, Sottsass also designed a new typewriter, calculator, and designs for rooms called “’superbox’ closets in stripely plastic laminate” and a “mobile multi-functional fiberglass furniture unit” (designmuseum.org). In 1980, Sottsass and 20 other designers started the notorious design group called Memphis. This group’s main objective “was to revive Radical Design” along with furthering Ettore’s thinking and ideas by putting them to work (design-technology.org). While in Memphis, he also designed mealware, glassware, and other furniture until 1985. Upon resigning from the group in 1988, Ettore Sottsass definitely lived up to his motives; instead of making design solely about functionalism, he insisted that “design should also be sensual and exciting” (designmuseum.org).
http://designmuseum.org/design/ettore-sottsass
http://www.design-technology.org/ettoresottsass.htm
