Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables

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.
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
1960s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
Late 20th Century Italian Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
2010s Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Plastic
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
2010s Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Fiberglass
1990s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Iron
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
Early 2000s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Ash
Early 2000s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
Early 2000s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Steel
Early 2000s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
Early 2000s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
Early 2000s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
1970s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stainless Steel
1970s French Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stainless Steel
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Laminate
1980s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mirror, Plastic
1980s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Laminate
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ceramic
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ceramic
1970s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
1980s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Cement
1970s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze
1960s Italian Hollywood Regency Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Steel
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Metal
1970s Italian Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
1970s Italian Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
1980s Austrian Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
1980s Italian Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Metal
1980s Italian Post-Modern Vintage Ettore Sottsass Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble