Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) Father of Anti-Design

Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) was an Austrian designer; born in Innsbruck and active in Milan. Between 1935 and 1939 he studied architecture at the Politecnico di Torino. Through the useful and ornamental pieces he produces, the Italian genius has made a life’s work of defying notions of “good” taste and integrating art, humour, and kitsch into everyday routines. Take, for example, his four-decade-old gorgeous candy-apple red adding machine: It’s the forerunner to the edible-looking iMac.

Background

His father Ettore Sottsass studied at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna under Otto Wagner. He moved to Turin in 1928 with his family, where he became a protagonist in the architectural debate between Marcello Piacentini and Giuseppi Pagano over the Railway Station project in Florence in the 1930s. Sottsas Jr. began his career as an architect in 1947, setting up The Studio, Milan.

“Decoration can be a state of mind, an unusual perception, a ritual whisper.”

Ettore Sottsass

Although trained and active as an architect, Sottsass secured a permanent place in pop culture with his designs of everyday items. From 1957, he was a consultant designer at Olivetti, where he designed computers, adding machines, typewriters, and systems furniture.

Father of Anti-Design Movement

He became a father figure of the Anti-Design movement of the 1960s. From 1966, his furniture for Poltronova was influenced by Pop Art and an extended visit to the USA when he worked in the studio of George Nelson in New York for a year in 1966. His subcontinental Indian-inspired ceramics were produced in 1969. He designed the radical, if intentionally plain, 1970 Grey furniture range made by Poltronova; it was inspired by American minimalist sculpture; (Michele De Lucchi) designed Olivetti’s 1982 Icarus office furniture range. His links with Anti-Design became stronger after 1979 when he began to associate with members of Studio Alchimia.

In 1980 (with Aldo Cibic, Marco Zanini, and Matteo Thun), he established Sottsass Associati. Sottsass set up the Memphis furniture and furnishings group in 1981, with a highly successful showing at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. Winding up Memphis in 1988, Sottsass continued to include humour and sometimes folly in his designs for clients, including Cleto Munari (accessories), Fusital (hardware fittings), Zanotta (furniture), Artemide (lighting), Swid Powell (metalware and ceramics). The designer’s Memphis designs are well-known for their striking colours, intricate patterns, weird material pairings, and historically diverse sources of inspiration.

Shiva vase - Ettore Sottsass. — Shiva vase – Ettore Sottsass. The vase serves as a modern interpretation of the phallic-shaped linga that symbolised Shiva in the Hindu religion

"Murmansk" Fruit Dish 1982 designed by Ettore Sottsass — “Murmansk” Fruit Dish 1982 designed by Ettore Sottsass

Sottsass was known for his playfulness and wit as well as his whimsical ornamentation. His Adesso Pero stained wood bookshelf from 1992 looks like three red lighting bolts shooting into a red platform. His Tahiti lamp, from 1981, resembles a tropical bird with a long yellow neck and boxy red beak.

In 1986 with Christopher Radl and Ambrogio Borsani, he established publicity agency Italiana di Communicazione. He had more than 100 clients worldwide.