Silver Candlesticks by Ettore Sottsass
View Similar Items
Silver Candlesticks by Ettore Sottsass
About the Item
- Creator:Swid Powell (Manufacturer),Ettore Sottsass (Designer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 12.6 in (32 cm)Width: 3.55 in (9 cm)Depth: 3.94 in (10 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:1980-1989
- Date of Manufacture:1980
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Vienna, AT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1174222501432
Ultrafragola Mirror
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.
Ettore Sottsass
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.
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. They 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's 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 imaginative and expressive in smaller, secondary furnishings such as lamps and chandeliers, and in table pieces and glassware that have playful and sculptural qualities.
It was as an artist that Ettore 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.
- Olivetti "Valentine" Typewriter by Ettore SottsassBy Ettore Sottsass, OlivettiLocated in Vienna, ATFamous portable typewriter by Sottsass for Olivetti, Italy from the 1960s. Totally functional with some wear. 3 pieces available.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern More Desk Accessories
MaterialsSteel
- Candlesticks by Riedel Austria from the 1970sLocated in Vienna, ATArchitectural cast clear glass set of two candles, made by Riedel Austria in the 1970s Set of five.Category
Vintage 1970s Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Candle Holders
MaterialsArt Glass
- Candlesticks by Riedel Austria from the 1970sLocated in Vienna, ATArchitectural cast clear glass set of three candles, made by Riedel Austria in the 1970s Set of three.Category
Vintage 1970s Austrian Mid-Century Modern More Candle Holders
MaterialsArt Glass
- Arkipelago Candlesticks by Timo Sarpaneva for IittalaLocated in Vienna, ATArkipelago candlesticks by Timo Sarpaneva for Iittala. Architectural cast clear glass block for three candles. Glass with bubbles.Category
Vintage 1970s Finnish Mid-Century Modern More Candle Holders
MaterialsArt Glass
- Set of Three Candlesticks by Riedel Austria from the 1970sBy Claus Josef RiedelLocated in Vienna, ATArchitectural cast clear glass set of three candles, made by Riedel Austria in the 1970s Set of three.Category
Vintage 1970s Austrian Candelabras
MaterialsGlass
- Organic Candlesticks, Turned Teak, SwedenLocated in Vienna, ATSculptural organic candlesticks designed and produced in Sweden in the 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Swedish Scandinavian Modern More Candle Holders
MaterialsTeak
- "Moonlight" Candlestick by Ettore Sottsass for Swid PowellBy Swid Powell, Ettore Sottsass, Cleto MunariLocated in Skokie, IL"Moonlight" Candlestick by Ettore Sottsass for Swid Powell A single "Moonlight" silver -plated and brass candlestick designed by Ettore Sottsass for Swid Powell. Sottsass, 1917-2007...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Candlesticks
MaterialsSilver Plate, Brass
$840 Sale Price20% Off - Pair of Silver Plate & Brass Candlesticks by Ettore Sottsass for Swid PowellBy Swid Powell, Ettore Sottsass, Memphis GroupLocated in Palm Desert, CAA thoroughly modern pair of candlesticks, designed by Ettore Sottsass for Swid Powell, in the signature asymmetrical Memphis style. Sta...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Memphis Group Candle Holders
MaterialsSilver Plate, Brass
- Pair of Ettore Sottsass Silver Candlesticks for Swid Powell and Reed and BartonBy Reed & Barton, Swid Powell, Ettore SottsassLocated in Kansas City, MOStriking pair of silver plated candlesticks designed by Ettore Sottsass and made by Swid Powell in collaboration with Reed and Barton, 1980s.Category
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Candlesticks
MaterialsSilver
- Ettore Sottsass Candelstick / Candle Holder, Silver Plate for Swid PowellBy Swid Powell, Ettore SottsassLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis is one icon of Post Modern design by the well known architect Ettore Sottsass.Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Sheffield and Silverplate
MaterialsSilver Plate
- Diamante Vase by Ettore SottsassBy Braganti, Ettore SottsassLocated in Milan, ITThis vase, made entirely in silver, is part of the Diamante collection, designed by Italian architect Ettore Sottsass. The simple, symmetrical shape of the vase is contemporary and m...Category
2010s Italian More Candle Holders
MaterialsSilver
$7,920 / item - Diamante Doppio Vase by Ettore SottsassBy Braganti, Ettore SottsassLocated in Milan, ITEntirely made in silver, this vase is part of the diamante collection, designed for Del Conte by renowned architect Ettore Sottsass. The minimalist and sophisticated shape of this pi...Category
2010s Italian Candlesticks
MaterialsSilver
$7,920 / item