Ettore Sottsass Wood Vases Collection Design Gallery Milano, 1995

View Similar Items

Twenty-Seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flower Vase S by Ettore Sottsass

Twenty-Seven Woods, Chinese Artificial Flower Vase Omega by Ettore Sottsass

Twenty-Seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flower Vase U by Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass Twenty-Seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flower Vase G

Ettore Sottsass Twenty-Seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flower Vase A

Limited Edition Vase O by Ettore Sottsass

Twenty-Seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flower Vase P by Ettore Sottsass

Twenty-Seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flower Vase L by Ettore Sottsass

Twenty-Seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flowers, Vase F by Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass H Limited Edition Vase in Wood and Murano Glass for Flowers

Ettore Sottsass Flower Vase C for Twenty-Seven Woods for an Artificial Flower

Rare Limited Edition of 12 Vase Alpha by Ettore Sottsass

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 18

Ettore Sottsass Wood Vases Collection Design Gallery Milano, 1995

About the Item

Presenting an extraordinary collection of twenty-six wood vases from the renowned "Twenty-Seven Wood Vases for Chinese Artificial Flowers" collection, designed by the iconic Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass. Edited by Design Gallery Milano in 1995, this collection showcases Sottsass's artistic brilliance and innovative design approach. Each vase in the collection is meticulously crafted using laminated wood, metal, and glass, resulting in a captivating fusion of materials. With a limited edition of twelve pieces per model, every vase is stamped and brass signed, representing its authenticity and exclusivity. In good original condition, the collection exhibits minor wear consistent with its age and use, which adds to its allure and preserves a beautiful patina. The collection is almost complete, with just one vase missing, making it exceptionally rare to find such a comprehensive assembly. Additionally, only one small red glass from the vase 's' is absent. Despite these minor omissions, the collection remains highly coveted and represents a remarkable collector's item. Ettore Sottsass, born on September 14, 1917, was an influential Italian architect and designer of the late 20th century. His diverse body of work encompassed furniture, jewelry, glass, lighting, and office machines. Sottsass gained prominence while working as a design consultant for Olivetti, where he revolutionized office equipment, typewriters, and furniture, blending color, form, and style to resonate with popular culture. His notable achievements include winning the prestigious Compasso d'Oro award in 1960 for the Elea 9003, the first Italian mainframe computer. Throughout his career, Sottsass's creative vision extended beyond design consultancy, and he established Sottsass Associati in 1980. This architectural practice enabled him to undertake large-scale projects and collaborate with international industries. Sottsass Associati's portfolio includes elaborate stores and showrooms for Esprit, identity designs for Alessi, exhibitions, interiors, consumer electronics in Japan, and diverse furniture creations. The studio, built on Sottsass's cultural guidance, nurtured numerous young associates who went on to establish their own studios, ensuring the perpetuation of the studio's work, philosophy, and culture. Sottsass Associati is presently based in London and Milan.

Creator:
Ettore Sottsass (Designer),Design Gallery Milano (Manufacturer)
Dimensions:
Height: 28.35 in (72 cm)Width: 18.9 in (48 cm)Depth: 11.82 in (30 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 26
Style:
Modern (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Brass,Glass,Wood
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1990-1999
Date of Manufacture:
1995
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Barcelona, ES
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1427234645072

Shop All Ettore Sottsass

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.