Philippe Thome - Sottsass - 2022

Sottsass

See photo 4 for content.

Excellent condition

Hundreds of illustrations (see photos)

Beautiful edition!!

Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, 14 September 1917 – Milan, 31 December 2007) was an Italian architect and designer of the late 20th century. He was the founder of the Memphis Group.
Sottsass was born the son of an Italian architect and an Austrian mother. In 1929 the family moved to Turin. Sottsass studied architecture there and earned his degree in 1939 from the Turin Polytechnic. Sottsass, however, was more involved in painting and sculpture. During World War II he was mobilized. In Sarajevo he was taken prisoner of war.
After the war, he opened his first design studio in Milan in 1947, and built a career focused on industrial design and its production. In 1956 he undertook an internship in New York with American designer George Nelson. In the following years Sottsass became an important innovator with distinctive designs for furniture, office equipment, lighting, and jewelry. His carefully conceived designs strongly influenced the avant-garde architecture of the 1960s and 1970s.
From Sottsass's 20-year collaboration with Olivetti, from 1958 onwards many new and diverse products emerged. The previously gray office environments gained color and an informal touch through Sottsass's designs. Thus he designed the Elea 9003 calculator, a totem inspired by pop culture, and in 1969 the famous red Valentine typewriter.
The Memphis Group, formed in 1981, worked innovatively and challenged mainstream design. From it came products such as the Casablanca and Carlton cabinet. The latter design symbolises the mindset of "Memphis." This colorful bookshelf with open and slanted sections, equipped with a few drawers, rests on a solid plinth, furthermore takes the form of a classic bedside cabinet beside a bed, fans out like a tree, and ends in a cubist-shaped crown. Taken as a whole, it looks more like a sculpture than a functional storage piece for books.
In addition to his work for Memphis, Sottsass was also active as a designer for Alessi and Artemide. Until late in life he remained active within the Sottsass Associati group. For certain projects Sottsass also collaborated with well-known designers such as Aldo Cibic, James Irvine and Matteo Thun.
Sottsass and the Memphis Group made an important contribution to the original use of laminate, at the time a new material. Through this technique it became technically possible to glue prints of imitation wood and marble under high pressure onto a furniture board. The dull, single-colored Formica was suddenly replaced by colorful sheet material with distinctive patterns borrowed from images of enlarged bacteria.

The designer died shortly after a bout of flu led to heart complications.

The highly acclaimed Phaidon monograph on the legendary Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass.
The reissue of this highly acclaimed title showcases the ongoing fascination, both among fans and collectors, with the life and work of the Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass. The designer's work is as popular as it is influential, from his Olivetti designs (such as the striking, bright red, manual typewriter Valentine, with its ingenious carrying case) to the postmodern genius of the Memphis Group’s work, which Sottsass founded in Milan in 1980.
The book, rich with beautiful images from the extensive Sottsass archive and including drawings and sketches from the designer's countless sketchbooks, explores his entire career from the 1940s to the 2000s, and covers everything from his architectural projects and product design to his ceramics, sculptures, and graphic design.

Very important document!!

Packed carefully with tr&trace and insurance for shipment.

Good luck with your bidding!!