Lucrezia Armchair by Marco Zanini for Memphis Milano
View Similar Items
Lucrezia Armchair by Marco Zanini for Memphis Milano
About the Item
- Creator:Marco Zanini (Designer),Memphis Group (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 28 in (71.12 cm)Depth: 22 in (55.88 cm)
- Style:Post-Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1984
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. In good vintage condition with wear consistent with age and use, including light scuffing of the metal finish, slight fading of the fabric, and fading and wear on fabric, including a 1/2” hole in the seat fabric.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4668118274212
Memphis Group
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.
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 vintage Memphis Group seating, tables, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- Lucrezia Armchair by Marco Zanini for Memphis MilanoBy Memphis Milano, Marco ZaniniLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn aluminum arm chair designed by Marco Zanini for Memphis Milano in 1984 and upholstered in Letraset, a cotton fabric designed by Ettore Sottsass. Signed on underside of the sea...Category
Late 20th Century Post-Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Roma Green Armchair, by Marco Zanini for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Memphis Milano, Marco Zanini, Memphis GroupLocated in La Morra, CuneoRoma Green Armchair in fiberglass with iridescent finish, designed by Marco Zanini in 1985. Marco Zanini was born in Trento in 1954. He graduated in architecture at the University o...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFiberglass
- Dublin Couch by Marco Zanini for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Memphis Milano, Marco ZaniniLocated in La Morra, CuneoDublin couch in plastic, metal and fabric by Marco Zanini for Memphis Milano collection Additional information: Couch in plastic laminate, metal and no...Category
2010s Sofas
MaterialsPlastic
- Prototype Armchairs att. Memphis Milano circa 1980By Memphis Group, Memphis MilanoLocated in Wien, ATSet of two Cardboard Armchairs, prototypes attributed to the Memphis Group, manufactured in Milan, Italy circa 1980. Both chairs are made of gray marbled cardboard and in good orig...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Armchairs
MaterialsPaper
- Palace Wood Chair, by George Sowden for Memphis Milano CollectionBy Memphis Milano, George Sowden, Memphis GroupLocated in La Morra, CuneoPalace chair in colored lacquered wood, designed in 1983, by George Sowden. George Sowden was born in Leeds, UK in 1942. He studied architecture at Glou...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chairs
MaterialsWood
- Bel Air Armchair by Peter Shire, Memphis MilanoBy Memphis Milano, Peter ShireLocated in Milano, MILa poltrona Bel Air di Peter Shire, prodotta da Memphis Milano è un pezzo di design unico che rappresenta l'audacia e l'originalità del movimento Memphis. Questo esemplare è stato p...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Armchairs
MaterialsCotton, Wood