Ettore Sottsass For Poltronova Italy
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Steel
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Bouclé, Teak
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coat Racks and Stands
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Aluminum
2010s Carts and Bar Carts
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Floor Lamps
Metal, Chrome
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sideboards
Walnut
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
Wood
Vintage 1970s Italian Decorative Art
Fiberglass, Mirror
Late 20th Century Italian Porcelain
Porcelain
Vintage 1960s Italian Dining Room Tables
Marble, Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Tables
Marble
Vintage 1960s Italian Memphis Group Credenzas
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1980s Italian Brutalist Dining Room Tables
Granite, Chrome
Vintage 1970s Italian Floor Mirrors and Full-Length Mirrors
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Floor Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Planters, Cachepots and Jardini...
Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Marble, Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Velvet, Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Dining Room Tables
Marble, Steel
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Planters, Cachepots and Jardini...
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Ceramic
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofa Tables
Vintage 1970s Italian Floor Lamps
Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Furniture
Vintage 1960s Italian Shelves and Wall Cabinets
Vintage 1960s Italian Shelves and Wall Cabinets
Aluminum
Vintage 1970s Italian Wall Mirrors
Plastic, Wood
Vintage 1960s Italian Vases
Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Marble, Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Chrome
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
20th Century Italian Vases
Vintage 1960s Italian Center Tables
Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Ceramics
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
Wood
Vintage 1950s Italian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal, Brass
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Ettore Sottsass For Poltronova Italy For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Ettore Sottsass For Poltronova Italy?
Ettore Sottsass for sale on 1stDibs
An architect, industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, Ettore Sottsass led a revolution in the aesthetics and technology of modern design in the late 20th century. He was a wild man of the Radical Design movement that swept Italy in the late 1960s and ’70s, rejecting rationalism and modernism in favor of ever-more outrageous imaginings in lighting and furniture such as mirrors, lamps, chairs and tables.
Sottsass was the oldest member of the Memphis Group — a design collective, formed in Milan in 1980, whose irreverent, spirited members included Alessandro Mendini, Michele de Lucchi, Michael Graves and Shiro Kuramata. All had grown disillusioned by the staid, black-and-brown “corporatized” modernism that had become endemic in the 1970s. Memphis (the name stemmed from the title of a Bob Dylan song) countered with bold, brash, colorful, yet quirkily minimal designs for furniture, glassware, ceramics and metalwork.
The Memphis Group mocked high-status by building furniture with inexpensive materials such as plastic laminates, decorated to resemble exotic finishes such as animal skins. Their work was both functional and — as intended — shocking.
Even as it preceded the Memphis Group's formal launch, Sottsass's iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell and radical pops of pink neon — embodies many of the collective's postmodern ideals.
Sottsass created innovative furnishings for the likes of Artemide, Knoll, Zanotta and Poltronova, where he reigned as artistic director for nearly two decades beginning in 1958. His most-recognized designs appeared in the first Memphis collection, issued in 1981 — notably the multihued, angular Carlton room divider and Casablanca bookcase. As pieces on 1stDibs demonstrate, however, Sottsass is at his most inspired and expressive in smaller, secondary furnishings such as lamps and chandeliers, and in table pieces and glassware that have playful and sculptural qualities.
Sottsass left the Memphis Group in 1985 in order to concentrate on the growth of Sottsass Associati, a design and architecture consultancy he cofounded in 1980.
It was as an artist that Sottsass was celebrated in his life, in exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in 2006, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art a year later. Even then Sottsass’s work prompted critical debate. And for a man whose greatest pleasure was in astonishing, delighting and ruffling feathers, perhaps there was no greater accolade. That the work remains so revolutionary and bold — that it breaks with convention so sharply it will never be considered mainstream — is a testament to his genius.
Find Ettore Sottsass lighting, decorative objects and furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
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The Italian designer’s oeuvre extends beyond the iconic Ultrafragola mirror.
Ettore Sottsass Captures a Shooting Star in This Rare 1970s Floor Lamp
Before founding the Memphis Group, Sottsass bent the rules of lighting design with the wonderfully wavy Cometa.
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