Ettore Sottsass

Over 150 Ettore Sottsass ceramics go on view at Phillips in London

Over 20 years before founding Memphis in 1980 – the subversive Italian design and architecture group that spearheaded a movement against the rigid rules of modernism – a young Ettore Sottsass was already experimenting with the radical design language that would...

Poupouf’ armchairs, circa 1970, by Ettore Sottsass

Design / 26 Sep 2018

Ettore Sottsass’ designs go up for auction in Paris this autumn

Celebrated for his vibrant and rebellious approach to architecture and design, Ettore Sottsass has re-entered the spotlight in recent years with the revival of postmodernism and embracing of the pattern-clashing ardour of the 1980s, and now a plethora of centennial...

Watches & Jewellery / 26 Apr 2018

Sabine Getty’s Big play day

‘I think it’s my inner child speaking,’ fine jeweller Sabine Getty explains of her love of bold, primary colours. ‘I love things that take me out of reality and into a happier world.’ It’s no wonder, then, that bright...

Design / 20 Mar 2018

Set superstar Alexandre de Betak’s Paris apartment interiors go under the hammer

For 30 years French art director, scenographer and designer Alexandre de Betak has pulled off some the fashion world’s most outstanding catwalk shows. Who could forget the 59 ft mountain of blue delphiniums he constructed in the courtyard of the...

Antiques dealer and design collector Joel Chen at home

Design / 6 Feb 2018

Exploring the collections of antiques dealer Joel Chen ahead of his Christies’s auction

For the Los Angeles-based antiques dealer, Joel Chen, collecting has always been about personal taste. ‘I have absolutely no unity in my acquisitions. I just go around and see what I like,’ he says, adding, ‘The prime element would...

Design / 27 Jul 2017

From furniture to jewellery, Ettore Sottsass’ revolutionary legacy is an eclectic one

The visionary architect and designer Ettore Sottsass is being honoured front and centre at the Met Breuer in New York City, one of the most monumental celebrations (of the many) of his 100th birthday this year. With a career that...

Design / 20 Jul 2017

Vitra celebrates Ettore Sottsass’ legacy as a design rebel, poet, and photographer

Exhibitions documenting the life and work of Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) abound this year as galleries and museums – such as The Met and Le Stanze del Vetro – celebrate what would have been the influential Austro-Italian designer’s 100th birthday. One...

Design / 19 Jun 2017

Design Miami/ Basel 2017: daring debuts, mid-century marvels and other highlights

Design Miami/ Basel presented its most far-reaching edition ever over the past week, somewhat in contrast with the state of the world and reaffirming design’s strong bonding power. ‘Looking around our world in 2017 – from the US to the...

Design / 5 Jun 2017

Born again: Venini reissues Ettore Sottsass lamp inspired by his Indian travels

Design world darling Ettore Sottsass would have been 100 this year, and it is being seen by all who brushed shoulders with him and his studio, and others besides, as an excuse to raid his archive and reissue forgotten works...

Design / 24 May 2017

Star turn: NYC’s Friedman Benda gallery celebrates a decade of radical design

A decade in business might seem a just occasion to look back on past successes and accomplishments, but New York design gallery Friedman Benda is gazing ahead. Instead of staging a retrospective to celebrate its tenth anniversary, the gallery has...

Design / 5 May 2017

A show of early Ettore Sottsass ceramics unites two titans of 20th-century design

It’s a concrete Valhalla, concealed behind the arches of Piazza San Marco in Venice. The Negozio Olivetti, once a showroom for the company’s typewriters and calculators, designed by its erstwhile art director Carlo Scarpa in 1957-58, and now a museum...

Design / 25 Apr 2017

Glass act: a Venice exhibition reveals a never before seen side of Ettore Sottsass

Arranged jewel-like across the Le Stanze del Vetro showspace on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Ettore Sottsass’ totemic glass sculptures tell the story of his life’s work. For the first exhibition dedicated entirely to the Italian designer’s work...