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ettore sottsass

Valentine portable typewriter (red)

Valentine portable typewriter, 1968. Photo by Alberto Fioravanti. © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

 

series of editorials on prominent designers

the name ettore sottsass is commonly associated with the valentine typewriter and certain pieces of office furniture in whose design he had a hand.

his real genius goes far beyond design, however. sottsass was in a literal sense the great italian’s own creation, a made object that feels and tells us how it wishes us to relate to it.

Ettore Sottsass, wearing goggles, exhales smoke

Ettore Sottsass, 1974.
Photo by Bruno Gecchelin. © SIAE 2017.

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born in Innsbruck, Austria

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Young Ettore Sottsass reads a newspaper smoking a cigarette

Ettore Sottsass during World War II, c. 1944. © Courtesy Phaidon Press.

 

graduates from Polytechnic University of Turin

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opens his own architectural and industrial design studio in Milan

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art director at Poltronova

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begins work as designer for Olivetti

Poster for Olivetti Summa Prima 20. A whirlwind of numbers of different color
Print advertisement for Olivetti Lettera 32. A typewriter and a stylised rocket launch

Poster for Olivetti Summa Prima 20 designed by Giovanni Pintori, 1960.

Print advertisement for Olivetti Lettera 32 designed by Pintori Giovanni, 1960.

 

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with Mario Tchou and Roberto Olivetti wins Compasso d’Oro for design of the Olivetti mainframe computer Elea 9003

Olivetti Elea 9003 computer, 1959. © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

Olivetti Elea 9003 computer
Olivetti Elea 9003 computer, close-up

68

awarded honorary doctorate of art by the Royal College of Art (London)

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his Valentine portable typewriter for Olivetti reaches the market

Valentine portable typewriter, colored red

Valentine portable typewriter, 1968. Photo by Alberto Fioravanti © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

Valentine portable typewriter, colored red, in isometric view

80

establishes design group Memphis

Three table lamps on a white background

Table lamps: Tahiti, 1981; Don, 1977; Halo Click, c. 1988. Photo by Jürgen Hans © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

 

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with Memphis colleagues founds Sottsass Associati

Ettore Sottsass surrounded by people sits at his table and draws
A white and blue lamp on a turquoise background

Collaboration between Zumtobel and Ettore Sottsass, 1986. © Zumtobel.

 

Lamp designed by Ettore Sottsass for Zumtobel. © Zumtobel.

2007

dies in Milan at 90

Created with Sketch.

i make no special difference between architecture and design, they are two different stages of invention. —ettore sottsass

A schematic architectural sketch

Sketch for Casa Wolf (1987–89). © Sottsass Associati.

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