A Memphis Milano Alcor glass vase designed by Ettore Sottsass
By Ettore Sottsass
Located in Oxford, GB
A Memphis Milano Alcor glass vase designed by Ettore Sottsass, made by Compagnia Vetraria Muranese
Glass
$11,680 / item
H 18.9 in Dm 5.91 in
Alcor Glass Vase, by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano Collection
By Memphis Group, Memphis Milano, Ettore Sottsass
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The Alcor Glass Vase was designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1983 for Memphis. Signed on the base
Glass
Alcor Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano
By Ettore Sottsass
Located in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Alcor by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano in 1983. Vintage model. The mark on bottom tells
Murano Glass
$6,896
H 18.51 in W 33.86 in D 17.92 in
Gio Ponti low table made of African walnut wood and glass, Italy, 1950s
By Gio Ponti
Located in Chiavari, Liguria
Low table made of African walnut wood and glass, Italian craftsmanship, designed by Gio Ponti, 1950s. The coffee table, an indispensable piece in the living room, has always been a ...
Glass, Walnut
$605 / item
H 11.82 in W 9.85 in D 4.73 in
Cucumber Ceramic Flower Vase, by Martine Bedin from Memphis Milano
By Memphis Milano, Memphis Group, Martine Bedin
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The Cucumber flower vase was originally designed by Martine Bedin in 1985 for Memphis. An object not thought for simple use but for a long contemplation, the ceramic vase is a true c...
Ceramic
$24,500 / set
H 37.41 in W 34.06 in D 39.38 in
Giampiero Vitelli for Rossi di Albizzate Pair of 'Minore' Easy Chairs
By Giampiero Vitelli, Rossi di Albizzate
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Giampiero Vitelli for Rossi di Albizzate, pair of 'Minore' lounge chairs, leather, plywood, Italy, 1961 A truly magnificent piece that scores highly on every design aspect: executio...
Leather, Plywood
Mid-Century Bar Counter by Luigi Scremin (Attr.), Italy 1950s
By Luigi Scremin
Located in Utrecht, NL
The 20th century witnessed the rise of exceptional Italian furniture designers, who left an indelible mark in the world of interior design. Their innovative creations and visionary a...
Brass
Capriccio armchair
Located in Forest, BE
Velvet “Capriccio” armchair by Georg Bighinello for Eurosalotto – circa 1970. Recently reupholstered in mohair fabric.
Textile
$21,779
H 31.11 in W 62.21 in D 31.5 in
Exceptional Curved Cesare Lacca Sofa in Fadini Borghi Velvet, Italy, 1950s
By Cesare Lacca, La Maison Pierre Frey
Located in The Hague, NL
This exceptional two-seater sofa was designed by Cesare Lacca and produced in Italy in the early 1950s. The elegant, rounded lines of the backrest and curved seat create a sophistica...
Fabric, Upholstery, Velvet, Wood, Walnut
$95,000
H 40 in W 75 in D 28 in
Finn Juhl, Rare Important Sofa Walnut Fabric, Baker Furniture United States 1951
By Baker Furniture Company, Finn Juhl
Located in High Point, NC
A rare and important sofa, designed by Finn Juhl in 1951 for Baker Furniture Company, Michigan. Introduced to the American design community by Edgar Kaufmann Jr, an art collector a...
Fabric, Walnut
$8,790 / item
H 6.7 in Dm 11.42 in
Aldebaran Glass Fruit Bowl, by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano Collection
By Memphis Milano, Ettore Sottsass, Memphis Group
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The Aldebaran Glass Fruit Bowl was designed for Memphis in 1983 by Ettore Sottsass. This bowl features a tapering cylindrical shape with three green handles, with the side decorated ...
Glass
$8,885 / set
H 28.35 in W 35.44 in D 25.6 in
Rare Original Eva Chair by Giovanni Travasa, Italy, 1960s
Located in Lewes, East Sussex
A rare, original 1960s Eva Chair designed by Giovanni Travasa in 1965, and produced by Bonacina, Italy. This example from a now closed independent boutique in Torino in rare white ...
Fabric, Bamboo
$1,690Sale Price|50% Off
H 13 in Dm 4.73 in
Gio Ponti Venini Murano Glass Bottle Morandiana Series 1960s
By Venini, Gio Ponti
Located in Paris, IDF
Rare Gio Ponti bottle for Venini designed in the 1950s from the Morandiana series. This example is a 1960s edition, acid-etched venini murano italia signature under the base, origina...
Glass
$13,500Sale Price|25% Off
H 76 in W 159.5 in D 18 in
California Modern Cerused Oak Modular Bookcase Room Divider by Lou Hodges, 1970s
By Lou Hodges
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 80's light blue cerused oak modular wall bookcase, which is finished on the back so can also be used as a floating room divider, is by Lou Hodges and was designed and produced i...
Oak
$55,000Sale Price|30% Off
H 39.75 in W 102.75 in D 17.75 in
20th Century Italian Walnut, Ceramic Sideboard, Veneered Maple Console Table
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A light-brown, large vintage Mid-Century Modern Italian freestanding sideboard made of hand crafted polished, partly veneered Walnut and Maplewood, in good condition. The console tab...
Ceramic, Glass, Maple, Walnut
$2,290 / item
H 9.06 in W 11.42 in D 11.82 in
Colorado Ceramic Teapot, by Marco Zanini from Memphis Milano
By Memphis Group, Marco Zanini, Memphis Milano
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
The Colorado teapot in ceramic was originally designed by Marco Zanini in 1983. Marco Zanini was born in Trento in 1954. He graduated in architecture at the University of Florence a...
Ceramic
Volga White Vase, by Matteo Thun from Memphis Milano
By Memphis Group, Matteo Thun, Memphis Milano
Located in La Morra, Cuneo
Volga Vase for one flower in decorated white porcelain, was originally designed in 1983 by Matteo Thun for Memphis Milano. Born 1952 in Bolzano, Italy. Matteo Thun studies under Os...
Porcelain
$2,113Sale Price|50% Off
H 12.21 in Dm 3.55 in
Gio Ponti Paolo Venini Murano Glass Bottle Morandiana Series 1982
By Paolo Venini, Gio Ponti
Located in Paris, IDF
Rare Gio Ponti and Paolo Venini bottle for Venini designed in the 1950s, “ A Canne” model from the Morandiana series. This example is a 1980s edition, signed Venini 82, with its orig...
Glass
Unavailable|$19,566 / set
H 32.29 in W 29.53 in D 33.47 in
Femina Body lounge chairs, Annie Hiéronimus, for French Cinna/Ligne Rose, 1990s
By Annie Hiéronimus, Ligne Roset
Located in Store Heddinge, DK
A rare and luxurious set of Ligne Roset "Femina" lounge chairs, designed by Annie Hiéronimus in the 1980s/90s. These sculptural chairs have been newly reupholstered in premium sheeps...
Lambskin, Wood
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.
The Italian designer’s oeuvre extends beyond the iconic Ultrafragola mirror.
Before founding the Memphis Group, Sottsass bent the rules of lighting design with the wonderfully wavy Cometa.
Make anyplace your happy place with Italian furniture at its subversive best.