Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass was born in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1917. He graduated in architecture from the Turin polytechnic university in 1939 and in 1947, he opened a studio in Milan, where he began developing architecture and design projects. Besides his project production, he started focusing also on cultural activities.

Ettore Sottsass took part in several editions of the Milan Triennale, and he participated in group and solo exhibitions in Italy and abroad. In 1958, he started his collaboration as design consultant with Olivetti, which lasted for over thirty years and won him three Compasso d’Oro awards for design. After a long series of lectures at English universities, he was conferred an honorary degree by the Royal College of Art in London in 1976.

Along with collaborators, friends and architects of international renown, in 1981 he formed the Memphis group, which soon became the symbol of new design and a landmark for contemporary avant-gardes. A year later, he founded the Sottsass Associati Studio, focusing on design and architecture activities. His works and projects are included in the permanent exhibitions of important museums worldwide such as the MoMa in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.