MEMPHIS MOVEMENT

1 9 8 0 ’ S

WHAT WORDS WOULD YOU USE

TO DESCRIBE IT?

JASPER MORRISON is one of today's most influential industrial

designers

WHERE DID IT START?• It all started with Ettore Sottsass who wanted their work

to rebel against previous design which he thought was

soulless. The slick "black box" design favoured by makers

of nearly everything in late-1970s from typewriters and

cameras to office furniture, cars and buildings themselves.

• Memphis created nonconformist furniture, by exploring

colour and new materials and by glorying in the

cheesiness of consumer culture.

Founded by Ettore Sottsass

WHO WAS INVOLVED?

• Martine Bedin,

• Aldo Cibic

• Michele De Lucchi

• Matteo Thun

• Marco Zanini

• Barbara Radice

• They were group of young

architects.

WHAT MATERIALS DID THEY USE?• They experimented with unconventional

materials and made furniture made from

the flashily coloured plastic laminates

emblazoned with kitsch geometric and

leopard-skin patterns usually found in

1950s comic books or cheap cafés.

• Other pieces of furniture and lights were

made from industrial materials – printed

glass, neon tubes and zinc-plated sheet-

metals –with flamboyant colours and

patterns, spangles and glitter.

• Look at the work on the sheet, what

materials do you think they have

used?

SUPER LAMP

• Martine Bedin’s 1981

Superlamp resembled an

illuminated dachshund with

multi-coloured bulbs framing

a richly-coloured fibreglass

arc.

CARLTON BOOKCASE

• Designed by Ettore Sottsass,

1981

• Intended for a luxury market

it is made of cheap plastic

laminates rather than fine

woods. The vivid colours and

seemingly random surfaces

and sections could look like

an avant-garde painting and

sculpture.

TAHITI LAMP

•Ettore Sottsass ,1981,

enamelled metal and

plastic laminate.

CERAMICS

Ettore Sottsass, Six-piece

ceramic totem

Ettore Sottsass, Teapot From

the series "Indian Memory"

HOW HAS MEMPHIS

INFLUENCED DESIGN TODAY?

FASHION

• American Apparel has launched a 43-piece collection of clothing featuring graphic prints by Memphis Group designer Nathalie Du Pasquier

http://www.dezeen.com/2014/03/25/american-apparel-capsule-collection-with-memphis-designer-nathalie-du-pasquier/

ZOË MOWAT

• “I feel like this new Memphis, is very much about surfaces. It comes through in surface, with the use of bold colours, patterns, textures and a variety of materials.”

• Mowat’s Arbor jewellery stand is made up of minimal shapes with function; a platform for rings and a hand mirror hang from a dowel that can be removed and draped with necklaces.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2d006ea4-2f87-11e4-83e4-00144feabdc0.html#slide0

SYRETTE LEW• She incorporated engineered marble

into the step-like shelving to

reference the laminate patterns

often used in Memphis designs.

• “As someone who is used to

designing very practical furniture

pieces, it can be liberating and

exciting to not have function be

constantly at the forefront of your

thoughts,” says Lew. “The tenets of

Memphis allow you to experiment

and blur the line between art and

design.”

EXTRA READING…

• https://designmuseum.org/memphis