20th Century Ettore Sottsass Mirror Ultrafragola for Poltronova

Most mirrors are meant to be looked in, but some are meant to be looked at. The Ultrafragola mirror by Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) is a classic example of the latter: It is hard to look away from its soft neon glow and sensuous curves, which resemble flowing wavy hair. 

As part of Sottsass’s “I Mobile Grigi” series for the third edition of the Eurodomus trade show, the Ultrafragola, which translates to “ultra strawberry” in Italian, was designed in 1970. It was a precursor to his best-known accomplishment: the 1981 founding of his design collective the Memphis Group (Milan, not Tennessee), which embraced Pop art and exhibited a flashy unorthodox sensibility. The Ultrafragola embodies many of Memphis’s postmodern ideals. With its cheap plastic shell — made of vacuum-formed opaline acrylic — this playful and flamboyant piece challenged modernist design’s clean lines and austere shapes at the time.

Despite the Memphis Group’s spirited start, with its members experimenting radically with furniture, jewelry and more, it had a short life span. In 1985, Sottsass refused to be defined by a single design movement, so he left the group, which formally dissolved two years later. However, Italy’s Poltronova still manufactures the Ultrafragola mirror today. And it’s seeing a revival thanks to its made-for-social-media aesthetic and growing favor among celebrities and contemporary interior designers. Indeed, the Memphis style is having a beautiful, bold, neon-colored comeback.

Poltronova is known for embracing the creativity that opposites can introduce to a space. Its radical modernist furniture and lighting fixtures are simultaneously grounded in classic aesthetics and inspired by what were then new and provocative artistic movements in mid-century Italy, when the company was founded. This tension resulted in unique and extraordinary pieces at the manufacturer, from eccentric, glove-shaped armchairs to striking dining tables that feature a mix of materials and textures.

Italian designer Sergio Cammilli founded Poltronova in Tuscany in 1957. That same year, it won the Compasso d’Oro for the Panchetto chair designed by Luciano Nustrini. Revolutionary Italian architect Ettore Sottsass — a maestro of postmodern design who would later establish the Memphis Group — came on board as an art director in 1958. Poltronova manufactured many of his furniture and ceramic designs. Sottsass’s lighting, seating and other works for Poltronova showcase the designer’s bold experimentation with solid wood, glass, metal and laminate materials.

Other established names in Italian furniture design collaborated with Poltronova’s Sottsass and Cammilli, including Giovanni Michelucci, Gae Aulenti and Angelo Mangiarotti. However, the company truly set itself apart in its collaborations with Superstudio and Archizoom Associati, groups that were part of an irreverent, avant-garde movement in art and design that took shape during the 1960s in Florence, Turin and Milan. Collectives associated with the movement — which would one day be called Italian Radical design — drew on Pop art and minimalism and explored working with unconventional materials to create colorful, quirky and uniquely shaped objects and furnishings. At the time, Poltronova also worked with up-and-coming names in the art world, like painter Max Ernst and sculptor Mario Ceroli.

Poltronova showcased its groundbreaking designs in many exhibitions, such as “La Casa Abitata,” which was held in Florence in 1965. At Milan's Eurodomus trade show in 1970, Poltronova debuted an entire bedroom collection designed by Sottsass — including his sensuous Ultrafragola mirror. The brand’s furnishings were included in a 1972 exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art called "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape," and in 1977, Poltronova again won the Compasso d’Oro for a book called Fare Mobili con Poltronova (Making Furniture with Poltronova).

Poltronova's enduring and acclaimed furniture designs came to be loved far outside Italy. During the 1960s, importer Charles Stendig represented the company and helped introduce it to the American market.

In 2005, Poltronova established the Centro Studi Poltronova to recreate some of the company's iconic furniture. The brand has also recently collaborated with English architect Nigel Coates, who worked with a Poltronova master craftsman in Italy to design a series of limited-edition furniture in 2011, including the Domo chair.

On 1stDibs, find vintage Poltronova tables, seating, storage cabinets and more.