Ettore Sottsass

He was born in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1917 and graduated in architecture from the Politecnico of Turin in 1939. In 1947 he opened a professional studio in Milan where he worked on architecture and design projects. His artistic activity kept pace with his design work and he took part in various editions of the Milan Triennale and also had group and solo exhibitions in Italy and abroad. In 1958 he began to work with Olivetti as a design consultant. This partnership lasted over thirty years and won three Compasso d’Oro awards for design. His designs included the first Italian electronic calculator in 1959, followed by various peripheral units and electrical and portable typewriters such as Praxis, Tekne, and Valentina. After a lengthy round of conferences in British universities, in 1976 he was awarded an honoris causa degree by the London Royal College of Art. In 1981 he set up the Memphis Group with partners, friends and internationally renowned architects. This was soon to become the symbol of “new design” and a reference for contemporary avant-garde movements. One year later he founded the studio Sottsass Associati where he continued to work as an architect and designer. His works and projects are part of the permanent collections of important museums in many countries, such as: the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Montreal, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the National Museum of Stockholm, and elsewhere.