Ettore Sottsass for Memphis "Park Lane" Coffee Table, Italy, 1983
View Similar Items
Ettore Sottsass for Memphis "Park Lane" Coffee Table, Italy, 1983
About the Item
- Creator:Memphis Milano (Maker),Ettore Sottsass (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 14.97 in (38 cm)Diameter: 42.92 in (109 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:1980-1989
- Date of Manufacture:1983
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Naples, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3221329139052
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.
Memphis Milano
To many people, postmodern design is synonymous with the Memphis Group. This Italian collaborative created the most radical and attention-getting designs of the period, upending most of the accepted standards of how furniture should look. Today, the Memphis Milano brand, which is managed by Alberto Bianchi Albrici, still produces designs created by the group between 1981 and 1988.
The Memphis story begins in 1980, when Ettore Sottsass, then a beacon of Italian postmodernism, tapped a coterie of younger designers to develop a collection for the Milan Furniture Fair the next year, determined that all the new furniture they were then seeing was boring. Their mission: Boldly reject the stark minimalism of the 1970s and shatter the rules of form and function. (Sottsass’s Ultrafragola mirror, designed in 1970, embodied many of what would become the collective’s postmodern ideals.)
The group decided to design, produce and market their own collection, one that wouldn’t be restricted by concerns like functionality and so-called good taste. Its debut, at Milan’s 1981 Salone del Mobile, drew thousands of viewers and caused a major stir in design circles.
So as a record of Bob Dylan’s “Stuck Inside of Mobile” played on repeat, they took their name from the song, devised their marketing strategy and plotted the postmodern look that would come to define the decade of excess — primary colors, blown-up proportions, playful nods to Art Deco and Pop art. A high-low mix of materials also helped define Memphis, as evidenced by Javier Mariscal’s pastel serving trays, which feature laminate veneer — a material previously used only in kitchens — as well as Shiro Kuramata’s Nara and Kyoto tables made from colored glass-infused terrazzo.
An image of Sottsass posing with his collaborators in a conversation pit shaped like a boxing ring appeared in magazines all over the world, and Karl Lagerfield furnished his Monte Carlo penthouse entirely in Memphis furniture. Meanwhile, members like Andrea Branzi, Aldo Cibic, Michele de Lucchi, Nathalie du Pasquier, Kuramata, Paola Navone, Peter Shire, George Sowden, Sottsass and his wife, journalist Barbara Radice, went on to enjoy fruitful careers.
Some people think of the Milan-based collective as the design equivalent to Patrick Nagel’s kitschy screenprints, but for others Memphis represents what made the early 1980s so great: freedom of expression, dizzying patterns and off-the-wall colors.
Eventually, the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990s minimalism, and Memphis fell out of fashion. Sottsass left the group in 1985, and by 1987, it had disbanded. Yet decades later, Memphis is back and can be traced to today’s most exciting designers.
“As someone who was born in the 1980s, Memphis at times feels like the grown-up, artsy version of the toys I used to play with,” says Shaun Kasperbauer, cofounder of the Brooklyn studio Souda. “It feels a little nostalgic, but at the same time it seems like an aesthetic that’s perfectly suited to an internet age — loud, colorful and utilizing forms that are graphic and often a little unexpected.”
Find a collection of Memphis Milano seating, tables, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- Ettore Sottsass for Olivetti Valentine Typewriter, Italy 1960sBy Ettore Sottsass, OlivettiLocated in Naples, ITFamous and Iconic Portable Typewriter Mod. Valentine designed by Ettore Sottsass and Peter King, for the company Olivetti Italia in 1960, the typewriter is in very good condition wit...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desk Sets
MaterialsMetal
- Ettore Sottsass for Olivetti Synthesis Black Ashtray, Italy, 1970sBy Ettore Sottsass, OlivettiLocated in Naples, ITLarge black ABS ashtray, Ettore Sottsass for Olivetti Synthesis, Sistema 45 series, 1972. Iconic object from the revolutionary office furniture system ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Ashtrays
MaterialsPlastic
- 'Siluro' Floor Lamp Angelo Lelli, Ettore Sottsass for Arredoluce, Italy, 1957By Arredoluce, Alfred Lelli, Ettore SottsassLocated in Naples, ITFloor lamp model 12628 design Angelo Lelli and Ettore Sottsass for Arredoluce. Made of marble, lacquered metal, perplex and brass. It appears in the reasoned catalog 1943-1987, pag...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsMarble, Metal, Brass
$18,470 Sale Price20% Off - Ettore Sottsass for Santambrogio & De Berti "Oak" Wood Wall Mirror, Italy 1960sBy Santambrogio & De Berti, Ettore SottsassLocated in Naples, ITRare mirror in wood frame of Ettore Sottsass manufactured by Santambrogio e De Berti, 1959s.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsMirror, Wood
- Ettore Sottsass for Staff ID-S Edition Floor Lamp, 1980sBy Ettore SottsassLocated in Naples, ITThis floor lamp was designed by Ettore Sottsass in the 1980s. This Ettore Sottsass floor lamp model ID-S is produced by the Italian company Staff. The floor lamp has black in color. ...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
MaterialsSteel
$1,407 Sale Price20% Off - Osvaldo Borsani for Tecno Coffee Table, Italy 1960sLocated in Naples, ITOsvaldo Borsani, a coffee table with a wooden top and an steel structure. Tecno Prod., Italy, 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Park Lane Coffee Table by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Memphis Milano, Ettore SottsassLocated in La Morra, CuneoPark Lane coffee table in fiberglass & marble by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano collection Additional information: Coffee table in fiberglass and marble. Collection: Memphis...Category
2010s Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsFiberglass
- Park Coffee Table by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Memphis Milano, Ettore SottsassLocated in La Morra, CuneoPark coffee table in marble, metal and glass by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano collection Additional information: Coffee table in marble, metal and plate glass. Collection: ...Category
2010s Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass
- Holebid Briar Coffee Table, by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Memphis Group, Ettore Sottsass, Memphis MilanoLocated in La Morra, CuneoHolebid coffee table in briar and plastic laminate, is designed in 1984 by Ettore Sottsass. Ettore Sottsass was born in Innsbruck in 1917. In 1939 he graduated in architecture at th...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood, Plastic
- Ettore Sottsass Central Park Cocktail Table in Marble, Rare, 1983By Ettore SottsassLocated in Brooklyn, NYRare Central Park cocktail table designed in 1983 by Ettore Sottsass for Knoll Studio, comprising a floating, Emperador Dark marble base and eight Nero Marquina marble columns with i...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMarble
- Mid Century Italian Post Modern Memphis Sottsass Style Coffee Table in BlackBy Memphis Milano, Ettore SottsassLocated in Philadelphia, PAA super funky cocktail table design from the 1980's and made in Italy. It features all steel construction with thick clear glass top. Very good ready to use condition.Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Loto Coffee Table, Ettore Sottsass for Poltronova, 1980By Ettore SottsassLocated in Milano, LombardiaThe small white marble Loto Coffee Table, designed by Ettore Sottsass for Poltronova in 1980, is a luxurious and sophisticated interpretation of the iconic piece. The choice of white...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMarble