Biography of Ettore Sottsass

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

Postmodern era

Ettore Sottsass is primarily associated today with the Memphis Design Group, of which he was a founding member in 1980. Designer In Milan, groups from the fields of furniture, ceramics, and textiles joined forces and, in their first exhibition just over six months after their founding, presented an avant-garde, anti-rationalist, and anti-functionalist design that caused a worldwide sensation. In the postmodern style, Ettore Sottsass designed furniture during this period that is now highly sought-after collector's item. The 'Carlton' bookcase, created in the Memphis style of postmodernism, was designed in 1980, followed the next year by... table lamp ‘'Tahiti' and the 'Casablanca Cabinet' shelf, both from 1981. In 1983, the 'Pausania' lamp was created, which is still produced by Artemide today. The design maxim 'form follows function' evolved into the Memphis ideal 'form follows fun'.

Military service under Mussolini

Having just received his architecture degree, Sottsass first completed his military service under Mussolini. After the war, he worked in his father's architectural firm in Turin, helping to rebuild devastated Italy. It was there that he met his future wife, the journalist Fernanda Pivano. She was also born in 1917 and had moved to Turin with her parents. Sottsass and Pivano were married from 1949 until the 1970s. After their wedding, they initially moved to Milan. The relationship later ended due to Sottsass's extramarital affairs.

Experiments and designs

In Milan, Ettore Sottsass founded his own design studio in the early 1950s. At this time, he also began collaborating with Bitossi, a ceramics manufacturer. Seven years after starting his own business, Sottsass became artistic director of the furniture manufacturer. Poltronova near Florence. During his collaboration with Poltronova, Sottsass professionalized his experiments with fiberglass. This resulted in a series of charismatic designs, such as the mirror '‘Ultrafragola‘.

Mobili Grigi

Ultrafragola is part of the 'Mobili Grigi' series, designed by Ettore Sottsass in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The Elledue bed and a chest of drawers were created to complement the Ultrafragola mirror., chairs, The table and the lamps 'Cometa' and 'Bruco' are part of the series. All the furnishings share the integrated lighting, which forms a strong contrast to their mostly gray bodies. The lighting on these objects is designed to appear to emerge from the fiberglass form. Sottsass himself commented on the series, saying: ‘Regarding the lights emanating from the gray objects: Don’t tombs always have flickering lights illuminating the sadness of the ghosts as they wander through the valley of dust? Don’t submarines have trembling green lights in their cargo holds?’

Italy's first computer

When the collaboration with Poltronova began, Adriano Olivetti's path crossed with Sottsass's by chance. The founder of the Italian Olivetti Group was immediately impressed by Sottsass and commissioned him, along with his son Roberto and IT technician Mario Tchou, to develop a computer. 'Elea 9003' was a room-sized, third-generation mainframe computer system, which won the Compasso d'Oro design award in 1959 and was the first Italian computer. This was followed by the design of various typewriters.

Sweet Valentine

Perhaps the best-known is the red 'Valentine' portable typewriter from 1968, which Sottsass equipped with a practical carrying case and described as the 'ballpoint pen of typewriters'. From then on, Valentine enabled creative minds like Allen Ginsberg and Ernest Hemingway, who were close to his wife, to work virtually anywhere. A huge advantage. By David Bowie white It is known that he sometimes wrote song lyrics on his Valentine, which changed hands for well over 50,000 euros at a London auction house in 2016.

Mettsass, Manhattan and Muster

In the 1970s, Sottsass worked with BD Barcelona together and brings the table '‘Mettsass‘'and a range of table accessories such as the 'Manhattan' ashtray or the vase '‘Shiva‘During an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Sottsass met the journalist Barbara Radice. He was in his late fifties, she in her early thirties. The couple married later that year, and Sottsass moved into the Italian-born Radice's apartment. Shortly afterward, Sottsass joined the designers at Studio Alchimia, including Adriana and Alessandro Guerriero and Alessandro Mendini. The 'Bacterio' (1978) and 'Spugnato' (1979) patterns date from this period. During his time in Memphis, he created the 'Veneziana' (1981) and 'Rete 2' (1982) patterns, all produced by Abet Laminati.

Back to architecture

After leaving the Memphis Design Group, the Milanese-based designer focused entirely 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 and early 1990s, he created a series of objects for the companies Zanotta and Alessi, including 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, specifically at the Königsworther Platz transport hub, a former 19th-century parade ground. This was followed by the 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 every major design collection worldwide, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At the age of 90, the visionary died on New Year's Eve in his Milan apartment from heart failure, which developed as a result of a viral infection. However, the architect and designer remains immortal in his designs. TAGWERC At Design STORE you will find the exclusive designs by Ettore Sottsass for your own home.