MemphisGroup_MyriemMsefer_12/06/2016

MEMPHIS GROUP

Presentation

The Memphis Group was an Italian design and architecture group founded in Milan by Ettore Sottsass in 1981 that designed Postmodern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass and metal objects from 1981 to 1987.

The Memphis group’s work often incorporated plastic laminate and was characterized by ephemeral design featuring colourful decoration and asymmetrical shapes, sometimes arbitrarily alluding to exotic or earlier styles.

-  Drawings and designs in bold colors with futuristic shapes
- Decorative styles of past years

Ettore Sottsass organised a meeting with some designers and formed this design collaborative named Memphis. 
They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic themes.

The group produced and exhibited furniture and design objects. The result was a highly acclaimed debut at the 1981 Salone del Mobile of Milan, the world’s most prestigious furniture fair.


The group’s members included Alessandro Mendini, Martine Bedin, Andrea Branzi, Aldo Cibic, Michele de Lucchi, Nathalie du Pasquier, Hans Hollein, Arata Isozaki, Shiro Kuramata, Matteo Thun, Javier Mariscal, Luciano Paccagnella, George Sowden, Marco Zanini, Ettore Sottsass. 

They always kept in mind the aim to create controversy with their objects and openly criticize what was considered good design.

This is activity known as "anti-design"

Displayed products achieved much fame and caused much criticism in society of that time.

Alessandro Mendini

  

Martine Bedin

The group was aware that they were part of a fad, that's why Ettore Sottsass decided to disband the group in 1988 when the movement began to wane.

The theory of design was placed against the design itself, the foundation of the activities of the Memphis Group consisted of that, the "Anti-Design"as a banner of his theory.

ETTORE SOTTSASS

"For me the design is a way to discuss life"

Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) was an Italian architect and designer of the late 20th century. His designs included furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting and office machine design.

Navigating between architecture, industrial design and experimental design, Ettore Sottsass occupies a very important place on the Italian establishment. 
Committed intellectual, free-spirited and non-conformist, he has to be at the heart of cultural movements of his time, ensuring continuity until the creation of Memphis in 1981. 
Alternately designer, architect, ceramist, photographer or designer, he explored the creative fields with great freedom.

After the trauma of war, Ettore Sottsass participated in the reconstruction of the social housing programs. 
Convinced that architecture can not be decreed from above, he stopped for a time to exercise architecture. Failing to realize the architecture of his dreams, he prefers designing architectured objects.
With his curiosity, he worked for a lot of fields as painting, as graphic design, furniture design, jewelery and ceramics; these practices feeding each other according to the principle of «cross fertilization». 



45 Synthesis:
Typist and back office with 2 storage boxes
72 x 160 x 75 cm

Back 68 x 126 x 48 cm

In the 70s, convinced that we must work on a «desktop profile», Ettore Sottsass is attempting to redefine the face of the workplace. 
Considering as archaic or hierarchical distinctive signs, the differences are, he says, come from space and tools required by those who work. 
He developed a modular system of simple elements, which can vary in size, numbers and colors. 
45 Synthesis strangely akin to the principle of «Habitat profiles» imagined a year ago as part of the exhibition Italy : The New Domestic Landscape.