Sottsass Original Drawing
2010s Italian Post-Modern Prints
Fabric
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
Wood, Glass
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Laminate, Wood
20th Century More Jewelry
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Chrome
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Early 2000s American Shaker Bookcases
Wood, Hardwood, Cherry
Mid-20th Century Italian Organic Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Fiberglass
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Leather, Wood
Vintage 1930s Victorian Armchairs
Upholstery, Wood
Mid-20th Century Unknown Post-Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Leather
Vintage 1960s American Shaker Stools
Walnut
Early 20th Century French Louis XV Side Chairs
Upholstery, Cane, Wood, Giltwood
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Beds and Bed Frames
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Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Cabinets
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Mid-20th Century Italian Lounge Chairs
Wool
Antique 19th Century American Shaker Side Chairs
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Antique 19th Century French Other Side Chairs
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20th Century American Shaker Music Stands
Cherry
Vintage 1980s Austrian Post-Modern Dining Room Tables
Birdseye Maple
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1990s Italian Post-Modern Drawings
Paper, Plexiglass
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Glass, Wood
Vintage 1970s French Space Age Drawings
Paint
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Quilts and Blankets
Silk
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Vases
Blown Glass
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Vases
Wire
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Quilts and Blankets
Silk
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Quilts and Blankets
Silk
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Post-Modern Vases
Blown Glass
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Quilts and Blankets
Silk
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Quilts and Blankets
Silk
2010s Italian Post-Modern Ceramics
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Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
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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.