Ettore Sottsass

Sottsass was born on 14 September 1917 in Innsbruck, Austria, and grew up in Milan, where his father was an architect. He was educated at the Politecnico di Torino in Turin and graduated in 1939 with a degree in architecture. He set up his own architectural Read all

Sottsass was born on 14 September 1917 in Innsbruck, Austria, and grew up in Milan, where his father was an architect. He was educated at the Politecnico di Torino in Turin and graduated in 1939 with a degree in architecture. He set up his own architectural and industrial design studio in Milan.In 1959 Ettore Sottsass began working as a design consultant for Olivetti, designing office equipment, typewriters and furniture. Throughout the 1960s, Sottsass traveled in the US and India and designed more products for Olivetti, culminating in the bright red plastic portable Valentine typewriter in 1969, which became a fashion accessory and it is part of the Moma’s permanent collection of New York. In 1980 Sottsass assembled a major design consultancy which he named Sottsass Associati. The studio gave the possibility to build architecture on a substantial scale as well as to design for large international industries. In 1981, Sottsass and an international group of young architects and designers came together to form the Memphis Group. Memphis was launched with a collection of 40 pieces of furniture, ceramics, lighting, glass and textiles which featured fluorescent colors, slick surfaces, intentionally lop-sided shapes and squiggly laminate patterns. Many of his works are exhibited in permanent Collections of important museums all over the world. He died in 2007 in Milan
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