Memphis Group: Ettore Sotsass and his Carlton Sideboard

Ettore Sottsass

The carlton sideboard has become a classic representation and icon of italian postmodernism. Its characteristics contain all the basic elements used by Ettore Sottsass’s Memphis Group. Playful and unusual forms, bright block colours and mixtures of different materials and patterns are some of these characteristics.

The Memphis group was founded in 1981 by Sottsass himself, the group gained momentum very quickly gaining a name as a mecca for international design. The group had attracted members from all over the world housing names of young designers from Austria, Japan, Britain and the United States. 

Sottsass originally began his career as an architect in Turin Italy but very swiftly moved to design and ended up opening a studio in Milan in 1947. Olivetti and Italian office furniture company awarded Sottsass the title of consultant designer in 1957, with whom he designed not only office furniture but also different types of office equipment. In 1979 Ettore Sottsass was given the opportunity to show his work with studio Alchemia which was an Italian radical design group. A year later in 1980 he started his own firm in Milan which acted as a Design Consultancy and went by the name of Sottsass Associati.

The 1970’s marked a time of change for the italian radical design who were doing their utmost to move away from the modernist rule of form follows function. They wanted to break free from this form and move towards a new approach. They  also wanted to create things which appealed to people emotions and which had popular appeal amongst buyers. This new trend was being made possible and supported by new developments and achievements in both wood and plastic laminate materials, these materials made different shades of colour possible and designers were also able to make use of computer generated shapes.

Carlton Shelf - Ettore Sottsass 1981

Sottsass was continually studying and inventing new techniques which he wrote about and also lectured on his theories. He produced many original pieces for the Memphis group. Sottsass had a wide range of inspirational sources for these pieces which ranged from eclectic forms, indian inspirations and also from the swinging 60’s and the fashion and music in London.

This particular piece of furniture which sot sass created truly shows his source of inspiration through its unusual and radical design elements. The piece is a mysterious one as the shelves extrude at many different angle yet it retains a certain elegance reminiscent of an ancient Egyptian gateway or even a star wars like robot. Its functions range from a bok shelf to a divider or a side board with its ability to have drawers added on.

Referencing:


Ettore Sottsass | Design | Phaidon Store. 2015. Ettore Sottsass | Design | Phaidon Store. [ONLINE] Available at: http://de.phaidon.com/store/design/ettore-sottsass-9780714865843/. [Accessed 30 January 2015].

Ettore Sottsass / Design Museum Collection : - Design/Designer Information. 2015. Ettore Sottsass / Design Museum Collection : - Design/Designer Information. [ONLINE] Available at: http://designmuseum.org/design/ettore-sottsass. [Accessed 30 January 2015].