As an architect, Sottsass worked with vivid colors, and many of his buildings look almost as if built of Lego pieces. For materials, he used bricks, wood and stone. “I was recently in a building where everything was made of glass, even the floor. I walked like a turtle—it felt as if it was going to shatter under me. That’s not right, at least as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
when i began designing machines, i also began to think that these objects, which sit next to each other and around people, can influence not only physical conditions but emotions as well. they can touch the nerves, the blood, the muscles, the eyes and the moods of people. —ettore sottsass
Robot, 1982–83. © Sottsass Associati.
About the same time as the founding of Memphis, Sottsass started a second studio, which concentrated on consulting in the areas of architecture and design. Its clients over the years have included Apple, Fiat, Philips, Siemens and Alessi.
Sottsass Associati, 1993. From left to right: Mike Ryan, Marco Zanini, Mario Milizia, James Irvine, Johanna Grawunder and Ettore Sottsass. © Sottsass Associati.
Сontrol panel for Mandelli, 1981. © Sottsass Associati.
Television set for Brionvega designed by Ettore Sottsass and Matteo Thun, 1980. © Sottsass Associati.
Offices of Cementeria di Merone, Milan, Italy, 1993. © Sottsass Associati.
Artos spotlights for Zumtobel. © Zumtobel.
Optos lighting system for Zumtobel, 1989. © Zumtobel.
Fiorucci store in Bologna, Italy, 1983. © Sottsass Associati.
Fiorucci store in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1980.
ettore thought that design should help people become more aware of their existence: the space they live in, how to arrange it and their own presence in it.
—barbara radice, his wife
