about the designer
Ettore Sottsass was a product designer and architect who had an enormous influence on Italian design in the second half of the 20th century. Sottsass was born in Innsbruck, Austria, and moved with his family to Italy so that he could study architecture at Turin Polytechnic University. In 1980, Sottsass co-founded the Milan design group Memphis with fellow avant-garde designers Andrea Branzi, Alessandro Mendini, Martine Bedin, and Michele de Lucchi. Aiming to promote radical design, they produced brightly colored, geometric, and often anti-functional furniture, lighting and ceramics. His work belongs to numerous public collections around the world, and continues to inspire young designers.