Ettore Sottsass was born on September 14, 1917, in Innsbruck, Austria. He grew up in Italy, first in Trento and then in Turin. He thus followed in the footsteps of his architect father. After graduating in architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1939, he opened his studio in Milan in 1947. Over six decades, he became one of the freest and most influential figures in twentieth-century design.

The Olivetti Years

From 1958, he was a consultant for Olivetti. There he first designed the Elea 9003, one of the first Italian computers. Many office machines later followed, including the famous Valentine portable typewriter (1969). Bright red, it was conceived as an object of desire rather than a mere tool. At the same time, he worked with the furniture maker Poltronova. He also developed a significant body of ceramics, glass and jewelry.

A great traveler, he was deeply marked by India and by American pop culture. For him, design was a way of questioning life and its rituals. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the leading figures of Italian Radical Design. Then, in 1973, he co-founded the Global Tools collective. He imagined utopian projects spanning object, architecture and philosophy.

Memphis

In 1980, he founded Sottsass Associati. The following year, he brought together a group of young designers and architects in Milan. They took the name Memphis, after a Bob Dylan song that played on repeat at their first meeting. Unveiled in 1981, their first collection caused a sensation. Bold geometric shapes, bright colors, printed laminates and “humble” materials shook the dogmas of functionalism. The Carlton bookcase, a colorful totem designed by Sottsass, became the icon of the movement. Memphis thus had a lasting influence on postmodern design and architecture.

For Ettore Sottsass, an object is never neutral. Indeed, it carries emotions, memories, an almost sacred dimension. His totemic ceramics, vases and sculptural furniture were often produced in small editions. They therefore blur the line between art and design. As an architect, he also designed houses and interiors around the world.

His work is held by the world’s greatest museums. The Centre Pompidou gave him a retrospective in 1994. In 2017, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York organized Ettore Sottsass: Design Radical. He died in Milan on December 31, 2007.

Sottsass and Galerie Enrico Navarra

In summer 2022, Galerie Enrico Navarra presented Sottsass au Muy at Villa Navarra, with curator Ivan Mietton. Some thirty works by the designer were brought together. They were shown in dialogue with pieces by Giacometti, Basquiat, Haring, Warhol, Penck, Condo and Raysse. The exhibition highlighted Sottsass’s singular position at the crossroads of art and design.