Details

Name

Ettore Sottsass

Brief Biography

born 1917, Italian

Occupation

Designer; Architect

Description

Ettore Sottsass born in Innsbruck (Austria) in 1917, he graduated in architecture at the Politecnico di Torino in 1939. Sottsass opened his practice in Milan in 1945, working both with architecture and design projects. He began his collaboration with Olivetti as a design consultant in 1958. He founded the Memphis group in 1981, which he left 4 years later to continue his own practice, Sottsass Associati. He died in Milan (Italy) in 2007.
Sottsass has honorary degrees from the Milan Polytechnic (2001), London Institute of Art (2001), the Glasgow School of Art (1999) and the Rhode Island School of Design (1993). In addition, he has received the title of Grande Ufficiale per l'Ordine al Merito from the President of the Italian Republic (2001), he has won the Compasso d’Oro for Valentine typewriter (1970), Oribe Award (1997), the iF Award Design Kopfe from the Industrie Forum Design (1994) and he has been awarded Officier of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic (1992).

Sottsass is included in the following selected collections: Design Museum in London, Victoria & Albert Museum in London; the Centre Pompidou and Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Arts and Design of New York; Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy; and the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam.

Solo shows include: Ettore Sottsass: Design Radical, The Met Breuer, New York (2017), We Were Exuberant and Still Had Hope. Ettore Sottsass: works from Stockholm, 1969, Marres House for Contemporary Culture and The Gallery Mourmana, Maastricht (2010), I Want to Know Why: A Show about Ettore Sottsass, Salone degli Incanti dell’ex Pescheria, Trieste (2008), Ettore Sottsass: Work in progress, The Design Museum, London (2007), Ettore Sottsass: New works 2005-2007, Friedman Benda Gallery, New York (2007), Ettore Sottsass: Architect and designer, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2006), A Master Returns, Barry Friedman Gallery, New York (2004).