#sottsass
Wright Auction of early 80s made Memphis Design Oct. 3rd. https://www.wright20.com/auctions/2019/10/memphis-design-the-zanone-collection/info
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Memphis reference books. Electa 1980 prototype drawings; Lagerfeld’s Sotheby’s catalog Oct. ‘91; Memphis glass, ceramics and metal; Radice book ‘84 published by Rizzoli.
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Blue phone is by Swatch, middle phone by Olivetti and phone at right is the Sottsass “Enorme” from’86.
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Sabine Getty and Memphis design inspiration. http://www.wallpaper.com/watches-and-jewellery/why-jeweller-sabine-getty-is-not-putting-away-childish-things-studio-visit-london
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David Bowie collected Memphis design and several of his pieces will be auctioned by Sotheby’s London on Nov. 11th http://buff.ly/2aidshZ
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I’m often asked about the difference between buying vintage early made Memphis compared to buying new version production of the original designs. My opinion is above.
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“Freemont” sideboard cabinet with shelves by Sottsass 1985. Plastic laminates, wood, gold gilt finish. 75"x24"x72"
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Lagerfeld sitting on the Tawaraya ring in his Memphis designed apartment in Monte Carlo. Sold his collection through Sotheby’s Monaco in ‘91. He had several prototypes and one-off Memphis pieces.
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I’ve always assumed that the Memphis origin story (the spontaneous naming bit) was quite likely apocryphal, and this essay by Barbara Radice from 1976 does seem to point in that direction: she recounts interviewing Sottsass for the piece through his repeated interruptions to recite lyrics from the Bob Dylan tune “Stuck Inside of Mobile…” and then uses those lyrics as the organizing principle for the essay and her analysis of Sottsass’ work. Which leads me to think that when December 1980 came around, it wasn’t by chance that Blonde on Blonde was on the turntable…
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Cei House, Empoli, Italy (1991-93) designed by Italian architect & designer Ettore Sottsass
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Studio Memphis “TVC-26” by Brionvega ‘81 wood & plastic laminate.
21"x18"x27". One of Lagerfeld’s sold for $2K in 1991!
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The job description “Industrial Design” should be retired. Automation and 3D printing technologies have outclassed this profession that once required creativity and physical labor. Today all is needed is an individual capable to use -within a certain skill set- 3D software; the rest is done by the engineer and the machine. Soon the engineer will be removed too and the machines will do the rest.
This profession had a great life the entire 20th century because there was the need to create a whole new reality of products that did not exist. Industrial designers of the past placed together art and crafting so the development and production process could exist in a small, yet more controllable environment. Alessi, Kartell, Braun, were all characterized by important authors at a time productivity wasn’t global like it is nowadays.
Industrial Design has become an anachronistic job title in today’s global economy (Ettore Sottsass design for Knoll).
Today companies think in large scale and in order to be able to continue so they integrated different profiles in their conceptual process: stylists, intellectuals, writers, artists, professors, CEOs, have all contributed to this change. Even if you might think IKEA as a brand fostering just industrial designer, you are wrong.
The field of design has spawned other path choices creative people begun to follow and improve. Yesterday graphic designers were painting and cutting papers, today they are designing websites; those who didn’t make the jump perished and found out the hard way the world had no use for them.
Plenty of job ads wanting industrial designers are actually requests for candidates with extremely good software rendering skills first. Why? Companies requiring this profile are manufacturers of parts and components like window/door frames, electrical components, or some other hazy unspecified custom production line. Some others dare to ask for an engineering degree so they can place the candidate to occupy two positions for one salary. And btw, they all offer a fast-paced environment…
The only fast-paced thing is the delivery of your CAD files to your boss yesterday.
Nowadays the field of design has outgrown ID and placed it in the backseat. If industrial designers are required to develop silk screens and cabinet doors, I’m afraid these companies have been looking for the wrong candidates. What they need is an AutoCAD operator graduated from any college that offering technical training, or a technician specialized to operate a set of software/machines. Creativity is not required and is quasi-absent from these job ads.
However at the source of this snag there has been a change in academia where university courses begun introducing other elements inside ID programs. Environmental and health issues are part of the equation and suddenly the traditional development path of the industrial designer faces other inputs requiring other sets of skills, some of which the majority might not posses, so here’s the need for other type of designers to help the process.
After 4 years of university and thousands in student loans, you can finally apply all your creativity in this aluminium frame…
In a short period of time from the beginning of the year 2000, ID lost relevance in the market founding itself replaced by others in the design field. Articles denouncing the peril of this happening were already emerging more than ten years ago, putting in the same basket similar careers at risk of disappearing like Chief Design Officer for example. Why? Because industrial design cannot exist in a vacuum, and the binary helix of form-function has departed from its mold.
Products of today have become so multilayered they demand other expertise to evolve, expertise the industrial designer must acquire to become hybrid and shed away it’s ‘industrial’ prefix in order to survive. Innovation is not anymore the traditional 6-face dice but a multi-faceted one that resembles more a dodecahedron than anything else.
