Biography

Ettore Sottsass was an Italian architect and designer who helped found the Memphis Group, a Postmodern design collective that produced unconventional furniture. “When I began designing machines I also began to think that these objects, which sit next to each other and around people, can influence not only physical conditions but also emotions,” he once reflected. “They can touch the nerves, the blood, the muscles, the eyes and the moods of people.” Born on September 14, 1917 in Innsbruck, Austria, his family moved back to Italy in the 1920s, and in 1939 he graduated with an architecture degree from the Polytechnic University of Turin. Following his studies, he designed several products for the Olivetti company, while also producing his own objects, including the Valentine Portable Typewriter (1968). The Memphis Group’s designs have continued to be influential in the world of design, with its innovative vision inspiring the works of Tom Dixon and Thomas Heatherwick. Sottsass died on December 31, 2009 in Milan, Italy at the age of 90. Today, the designer’s works are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Design Museum in London, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.