Memphis Tartar
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Wood
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Sideboards
Laminate, Wood, Hardwood
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Sideboards
Marble
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Pedestals
Hardwood
People Also Browsed
2010s American Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s American Minimalist Benches
Fiberglass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Ashtrays
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Plastic
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Chairs
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Armchairs
Wool
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Decorative Bowls
Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Stools
Steel, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Vases
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern More Mirrors
Mirror, Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern End Tables
Glass, Plastic
2010s Carts and Bar Carts
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Plastic
Antique 1890s French Art Nouveau Daybeds
Iron
Recent Sales
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Console Tables
Plywood, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Post-Modern Sideboards
Wood, Hardwood
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Console Tables
Wood
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Side Tables
Metal
Vintage 1980s Italian Memphis Group Pedestals
Metal
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.
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.