Ettore Sottsass Ikea
Vintage 1980s Swedish Post-Modern Floor Lamps
Plastic
1990s Swedish Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1980s Swedish Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Beech, Fabric
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Vintage 1980s Swedish Post-Modern Club Chairs
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Vintage 1980s Swedish Post-Modern Tables
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21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
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2010s Austrian Jugendstil Chandeliers and Pendants
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2010s American Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
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Vintage 1970s French Organic Modern Sofas
Leather, Upholstery
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
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2010s French International Style Daybeds
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2010s British Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
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21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Candlesticks
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Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Wall Clocks
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Vintage 1960s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
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Vintage 1960s Italian Wall Lights and Sconces
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Textile
Vintage 1960s Italian Flush Mount
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Vintage 1960s Doors and Gates
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Late 20th Century Swedish Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
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Vintage 1980s Dutch Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Plywood
Vintage 1980s Dutch Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Plywood
Vintage 1980s Dutch Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Plywood
Vintage 1980s Dutch Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Plywood
A Close Look at post-modern Furniture
Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.
ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerges during the 1960s; popularity explodes during the ’80s
- A reaction to prevailing conventions of modernism by mainly American architects
- Architect Robert Venturi critiques modern architecture in his Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)
- Theorist Charles Jencks, who championed architecture filled with allusions and cultural references, writes The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977)
- Italian design collective the Memphis Group, also known as Memphis Milano, meets for the first time (1980)
- Memphis collective debuts more than 50 objects and furnishings at Salone del Milano (1981)
- Interest in style declines, minimalism gains steam
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Dizzying graphic patterns and an emphasis on loud, off-the-wall colors
- Use of plastic and laminates, glass, metal and marble; lacquered and painted wood
- Unconventional proportions and abundant ornamentation
- Playful nods to Art Deco and Pop art
POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
- Ettore Sottsass
- Robert Venturi
- Alessandro Mendini
- Michele de Lucchi
- Michael Graves
- Nathalie du Pasquier
VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.
Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini — a onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.
Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group, which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.
Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals.
After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.
On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.
Finding the Right lighting for You
The right table lamp, outwardly sculptural chandelier or understated wall pendant can work wonders for your home. While we’re indebted to thinkers like Thomas Edison for critically important advancements in lighting and electricity, we’re still finding new ways to customize illumination to fit our personal spaces all these years later. A wide range of antique and vintage lighting can be found on 1stDibs.
Today, lighting designers like the self-taught Bec Brittain have used the flexible structure of LEDs to craft glamorous solutions by working with what is typically considered a harsh lighting source. By integrating glass and mirrors, reflection can be used to soften the glow from LEDs and warmly welcome light into any space.
Although contemporary innovators continue to impress, some of the classics can’t be beat.
Just as gazing at the stars allows you to glimpse the universe’s past, vintage chandeliers like those designed by Gino Sarfatti and J. & L. Lobmeyr, for example, put on a similarly stunning show, each with a rich story to tell.
As dazzling as it is, the Arco lamp, on the other hand, prioritizes functionality — it’s wholly mobile, no drilling required. Designed in 1962 by architect-product designers Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the piece takes the traditional form of a streetlamp and creates an elegant, arching floor fixture for at-home use.
There is no shortage of modernist lighting similarly prized by collectors and casual enthusiasts alike — there are Art Deco table lamps created in a universally appreciated style, the Tripod floor lamp by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Greta Magnusson Grossman's sleek and minimalist Grasshopper lamps and, of course, the wealth of mid-century experimental lighting that emerged from Italian artisans at Arredoluce, FLOS and many more are hallmarks in illumination innovation.
With decades of design evolution behind it, home lighting is no longer just practical. Crystalline shaping by designers like Gabriel Scott turns every lighting apparatus into a luxury accessory. A new installation doesn’t merely showcase a space; carefully chosen ceiling lights, table lamps and floor lamps can create a mood, spotlight a favorite piece or highlight your unique personality.
The sparkle that your space has been missing is waiting for you amid the growing collection of antique, vintage and contemporary lighting for sale on 1stDibs.
- What did Ettore Sottsass do?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Ettore Sottsass was an architect and designer. He founded the Memphis Group, a collective of designers active from 1981 to 1987. The Ultrafragola mirror is one of his most well-known designs. On 1stDibs, you can shop a variety of Ettore Sottsass furniture.
- Where is Ettore Sottsass from?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Ettore Sottsass was from Innsbruck, Austria. He was born there on September 14, 1917, but he moved to Turin, Italy, as a child. The Italian architect and designer died in Milan, Italy, on December 31, 2007. You'll find a variety of Ettore Sottsass furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.
- What did Ettore Sottsass design?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Ettore Sottsass was a famous 20th century architect and designer known for his work in furniture, lighting, jewelry and more, as well as from his work in designing buildings. He was Italian, though he was born in Austria, and lived from 1917 to 2007. Shop a range of Ettore Sottsass pieces on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022To pronounce Ettore Sottsass, say "AY-tore-ee SOAT-sas." The second syllable of the designer's surname sounds similar to the word “sauce” but with a shorter, clipped vowel. On 1stDibs, find a range of Ettore Sottsass furniture.
- Where did Ettore Sottsass study?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Ettore Sottsass studied at the Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy. In 1939, he graduated from the institution with a degree in architecture. Sottsass began working as an artist and designer in the late 1940s. He produced furniture, ceramics, paintings, sculptures and jewelry. Find a variety of Ettore Sottsass furniture on 1stDibs.
- What inspired Ettore Sottsass?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Ettore Sottsass was inspired by many things, including pop culture, travel and various cultures from around the world. His primary objective of his work was to bring out the deeper beauty of whatever he created. On 1stDibs, shop a collection of Ettore Sottsass furniture.
- Why is Ettore Sottsass famous?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertFebruary 13, 2024Ettore Sottsass is famous for his work as an architect and an industrial designer, which spurred a revolution in the aesthetics and technology of modern design in the late 20th century. He was the oldest member of the Memphis Group, a design collective formed in Milan in 1980. Having grown disillusioned by the staid, black-and-brown corporatized modernism that had become endemic in the 1970s, the Memphis Group produced bold, brash, colorful, yet quirkily minimal designs for furniture, glassware, ceramics and metalwork. They mocked high status by building furniture with inexpensive materials, such as plastic laminates, decorated to resemble exotic finishes like animal skins. Other than his Ultrafragola mirror (1970), Sottsass's most-recognized designs appeared in the first Memphis collection, issued in 1981. They include the multihued, angular Carlton room divider and Casablanca bookcase. Shop a diverse assortment of Ettore Sotsass furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertFebruary 1, 2024Ettore Sottsass used a variety of materials over the course of his career. The Italian artist experimented with glass, ceramics, enamel, brass, textiles and more. Along with fellow members of the Memphis Group, he skewed expectations for furniture by using inexpensive materials such as plastic laminates decorated to resemble exotic finishes like animal skins. He also revolutionized ceramics through the pieces he created for the Italian maker Bitossi. On 1stDibs, shop a range of Ettore Sottsass art.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Ettore Sottsass's father, also named Ettore Sottsass, designed modernist architecture. He worked for the firm Movimento Italiano per l'Architettura Razionale or MIAR. Giuseppe Pagano was the company's head architect. On 1stDibs, shop a range of Ettore Sottsass furniture.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Ettore Sottsass did not design the Carlton room divider for a specific patron or client. He created the piece while working with the Memphis Group, an art collective that held joint shows from 1981 to 1987. Find a selection of Ettore Sottsass furniture on 1stDibs.