Biography of Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass was born in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1917, the son of the architect Ettore Sottsass Senior. He grew up in Tyrol, in the shadow of the mighty Alps, and would carry a sometimes oppressive melancholy throughout his life. At the age of twelve, Ettore Sottsass moved with his family across the Brenner Pass to Italy. Here, in Turin, Sottsass emulated his father and studied architecture from 1935 to 1939, while his father built the family home "Casa Antonia Peintner" in the Bauhaus style in 1938, which he named after his wife, mother of Sottsass Junior.

Postmodern era

Today, Ettore Sottsass is primarily associated with the Memphis Design Group, of which he was a founding member in 1980. Designer The Memphis Design Group, which was founded in 1980, brought together designers from the fields of furniture, ceramics and textiles in Milan and presented an avant-garde, anti-rationalist and anti-functionalist design that caused a worldwide sensation in its first exhibition just over six months after it was founded. In the style of postmodernism, Ettore Sottsass designed furniture in this era that is now highly prized collector's items. In the Memphis style of postmodernism, the 'Carlton' bookcase was created in 1980, followed the following year by the table lamp 'Tahiti' and the 'Casablanca Cabinet' shelf, both in 1981. In 1983, the 'Pausania' lamp was created, which is still produced by Artemide today. The design maxim 'form follows function' becomes the Memphis ideal 'form follows fun'.

Military time under Mussolini

Having just graduated as an architect, Sottsass first completed his military service under Mussolini. After the war, Sottsass worked in his father's architecture firm in Turin, helping to rebuild a devastated Italy. This is also where Sottsass met his future wife, the journalist Fernanda Pivano. She was also born in 1917 and moved to Turin with her parents. Sottsass and Pivano were married from 1949 until the 1970s. After their wedding, they initially moved to Milan together. The relationship later ended because of Sottsass' affairs.

Experiments and designs

Ettore Sottsass founded his own design studio in Milan in the early 1950s. His collaboration with Bitossi, a ceramics manufacturer, began at this time. Seven years after starting his own business, Sottsass became artistic director at the furniture manufacturer Poltronova near Florence. During his collaboration with Poltronova, Sottsass professionalized his experiments with the material fibreglass. The result is a series of charismatic designs such as the 'Ultrafragola' mirror.

Mobili Grigi

Ultrafragola is part of the 'Mobili Grigi' series designed by Ettore Sottsass in the late 1960s / early 1970s. The Ultrafagola mirror is accompanied by the Elledue bed, a chest of drawers, chairs, table and the lights 'Cometa' and 'Bruco'. What all the furnishings have in common is the integrated lighting, which forms a strong contrast to the mostly gray carcasses. The lighting on these objects is designed so that it protrudes from the fiberglass body. Sottsass himself commented on the series with the words: "As for the lights that emerge from the gray objects: Don't graves always have flickering lights that illuminate the sadness of the spirits as they wander through the valley of dust? Don't submarines have quivering green lights in their holds?"

Italy's first computer

When the collaboration with Poltronova began, Adriano Olivetti happened to cross Sottsass' path. The founder of the Italian Olivetti Group is immediately convinced by Sottsass and commissions him, together with his son Roberto and IT technician Mario Tchou, to develop a computer. 'Elea 9003' is a room-filling mainframe computer system in the third generation, which is awarded the Compasso d'Oro design prize in 1959 and is the first Italian computer. This is followed by the design of various typewriters.

Sweet Valentine

Probably the best known is the red 'Valentine' travel typewriter from 1968, which Sottsass equipped with a practical carrying case and described as a 'ballpoint pen among typewriters'. From then on, Valentine made it possible for creative people such as Allen Ginsberg or Ernest Hemingway from his wife's circle to work simply anywhere. A great gain. David Bowie is known to have written song lyrics on his Valentine, which changed hands for well over 50,000 euros at a London auction house in 2016.

Mettsass, Manhattan and patterns

In the 1970s, Sottsass collaborated with BD Barcelona and produced the table 'Mettsass' and a series of table accessories such as the 'Manhattan' ashtray and the Vase 'Shiva'. During an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Sottsas met the journalist Barbara Radice. He is in his late fifties, she in her early thirties. The couple married that same year and Sottsass moved into the Italian-born woman's apartment. Shortly afterwards, Sottsass joins the designers of Studio Alchimia around Adriana and Alessandro Guerriero and Alessandro Mendini. The patterns 'Bacterio' (1978) and Spugnato (1979) date from this period. The patterns 'Veneziana' (1981) and 'Rete 2' (1982), all produced by Abet Laminati, were created during the Memphis period.

Back to the architecture

After leaving the Memphis Design Group, the Milanese by choice concentrated fully on his company Sottsass Associati and returned to architecture when he designed stores for the German fashion label Esprit in 1985. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, he created a series of objects for the companies Zanotta and Alessi, such as the 'Nuovo Milano' cutlery set in 1987. As part of the Busstops art project, Sottsass designed a bus shelter in 1994, which still stands today in Hanover, more precisely at the Königsworther Platz transport hub, a former parade ground from the 19th century. This was followed by Malpensa Airport in Milan in 2000.

Design awards and collections

Ettore Sottsass received numerous awards, including the Compasso d'Oro design prize three times (1959, 1970 and 1989), and his designs are represented in almost all important design collections worldwide, including Museum of Modern Art / New York. At the age of 90, the visionary died on New Year's Eve in his apartment in Milan of a heart condition caused by a viral illness. However, the architect and Designer remains immortal in his designs to this day. In the TAGWERC Design STORE you will find exclusive designs by Ettore Sottsass for your own four walls.