Memphis Group
Encyclopedia
The Memphis Group was an Italian
design
and architecture
group started by Ettore Sottsass
that designed Post Modern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass and metal objects from 1981-1987.
organized a meeting with designers and formed a design collaborative named Memphis. The name was taken after the Bob Dylan song Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again which had been played repeatedly throughout the evening's meeting. They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco
and Pop Art
including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch
and futuristic themes.
The group produced and exhibited furniture and design objects, annually between 1981 to 1988. The result was a highly-acclaimed debut at the 1981 Salone del Mobile
of Milan, the world's most prestigious furniture NEWY fair .
The group counted among its members Alessandro Mendini
, Martine Bedin, Andrea Branzi
, Aldo Cibic, Michele de Lucchi, Nathalie du Pasquier, Michael Graves
, Hans Hollein
, Arata Isozaki
, Shiro Kuramata
, Matteo Thun
, Javier Mariscal
, George Sowden
, Marco Zanini, and the journalist Barbara Radice. Sottsass left the movement in 1985 and it dismantled in 1988.
haute couture
collection fashion show.
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld
also collected Memphis pieces.
The Memphis group consisted of Italian designers and architects who created a series of highly influential products in the 1980's. They disagreed with the conformist approach at the time and challenged the idea that products had to follow conventional shapes, colours, textures and patterns.
The Memphis group was founded in 1981. One of the leading members of the group Ettore Sottsass called Memphis design the 'New International Style'.
Memphis was a reaction against the slick, black humorless design of the 1970's. It was a time of minimalism with such products as typewriters, buildings, cameras, cars and furniture all seeming to lack personality and individualism.
In contrast the Memphis Group offered bright, colourful, shocking pieces. The colours they used contrasted the dark blacks and browns of European furniture. It may look dated today but at the time it looked remarkable. The word tasteful is not normally associated with products generated by the Memphis Group but they were certainly ground breaking at the time.
All this would seem to suggest that the Memphis Group was very superficial but that was far from the truth. Their main aim was to reinvigorate the Radical Design movement. The group intended to develop a new creative approach to design.
On the 11th of December 1980 Scottsass organised a meeting with other such famous designers. They decided to form a design collaborative. It would be named Memphis after the Bob Dylan song Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again. Coincidentally the song had been played repeatedly throughout the evening.
Memphis was historically the ancient Egyptian capital of culture and the birthplace of 'Elvis Presley'. This was quite ironic but so were most of the pieces created by the group.
The group decided that they would meet again in February 1981. By that time each member would have had time to generate design proposals. When they did meet themembers of the group had produced over a hundred drawings, each bold, colourful.
They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, styles such as the 1950's Kitsch and futuristic themes. Their concepts were in stark contrast to so called 'Good Design'.
The group approached furniture and ceramic companies commissioning them to batch produce their design concepts. On the 18th of September 1981 the group showed its work for the first time at the Arc '74 showroom in Milan. The show exhibited clocks, lighting, furniture and ceramics created by internationally famous architects and designers.
In the same year the group published the book 'Memphis, The New International Style. The book served to advertise the groups work.
Many of the pieces featured in the exhibition were coated in brightly, colourful laminates. Laminates are most commonly used to protect kitchen furniture and surfaces from staining as a result of spillage. The group specifically chose this material because of its obvious lack of culture.
The work of the Memphis Group has been described as vibrant, eccentric and ornamental. It was conceived by the group to be a 'fad', which like all fashions would very quickly come to an end. In 1988 Sottsass dismantled the group.
The group may no longer exist but it has certainly influenced graphic design, restaurant design, fabrics and furnishing.
http://www.design-technology.org/memphis1.htm
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
group started by Ettore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass was an Italian architect and designer of the late 20th century. His body of designs included furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting and office machine design.-Early career:...
that designed Post Modern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass and metal objects from 1981-1987.
Origins
On December 11, Ettore SottsassEttore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass was an Italian architect and designer of the late 20th century. His body of designs included furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting and office machine design.-Early career:...
organized a meeting with designers and formed a design collaborative named Memphis. The name was taken after the Bob Dylan song Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again which had been played repeatedly throughout the evening's meeting. They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
and Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
and futuristic themes.
The group produced and exhibited furniture and design objects, annually between 1981 to 1988. The result was a highly-acclaimed debut at the 1981 Salone del Mobile
Salone del Mobile
The Milan Furniture Fair is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The show showcases the latest in furniture and design from countries around the world....
of Milan, the world's most prestigious furniture NEWY fair .
The group counted among its members Alessandro Mendini
Alessandro Mendini
Alessandro Mendini is an Italian designer and architect. He played an important part in the development of Italian design. He also worked, aside from his artistic career, for Casabella, Modo and Domus magazines....
, Martine Bedin, Andrea Branzi
Andrea Branzi
Andrea Branzi is an Italian architect and designer.-Biography:Branzi was born in Florence, where he also graduated in architecture. Currently he lives and works in Milan, Italy....
, Aldo Cibic, Michele de Lucchi, Nathalie du Pasquier, Michael Graves
Michael Graves
Michael Graves is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States....
, Hans Hollein
Hans Hollein
Hans Hollein, is an Austrian architect and designer.Hollein achieved a diploma at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1956, then attended the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1959 and the University of California, Berkeley in 1960...
, Arata Isozaki
Arata Isozaki
Arata Isozaki is a Japanese architect from Ōita. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1954. Isozaki worked under Kenzo Tange before establishing his own firm in 1963. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986.In 2005, Arata Isozaki founded the Italian branch of his office: Arata Isozaki &...
, Shiro Kuramata
Shiro Kuramata
Shiro Kuramata is one of Japan's most important designers of the 20th century. Kuramata was mainly known for his use of industrial materials such as wire steel mesh and lucite to create architectural interiors and furniture...
, Matteo Thun
Matteo Thun
Matteo Thun, born in 1952 in Bolzano, Italy, is a famous architect and designer.-Early years:Thun studied at the Salzburg Academy under the supervision of Oskar Kokoschka. He then obtained a degree in architecture in Florence, Italy, in 1975...
, Javier Mariscal
Javier Mariscal
Javier Mariscal is a Valencian Spanish artist and designer whose work has spanned a wide range of mediums, ranging from painting and sculpture to interior design and landscaping. He was born in February 1950 in the city of Valencia, Spain, into a family of eleven brothers and sisters...
, George Sowden
George Sowden
George J. Sowden was born in Leeds, UK in 1942. He studied architecture at Gloucestershire College of Art in the 1960s. He moved to Milano in 1970 where he started working with Ettore Sottsass and Olivetti...
, Marco Zanini, and the journalist Barbara Radice. Sottsass left the movement in 1985 and it dismantled in 1988.
Impact
Mem designs served as inspiration for the Fall/Winter 2011-2012 Christian DiorChristian Dior
Christian Dior , was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.-Life:...
haute couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
collection fashion show.
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...
also collected Memphis pieces.
What Did They Design?
The Memphis GroupThe Memphis group consisted of Italian designers and architects who created a series of highly influential products in the 1980's. They disagreed with the conformist approach at the time and challenged the idea that products had to follow conventional shapes, colours, textures and patterns.
The Memphis group was founded in 1981. One of the leading members of the group Ettore Sottsass called Memphis design the 'New International Style'.
Memphis was a reaction against the slick, black humorless design of the 1970's. It was a time of minimalism with such products as typewriters, buildings, cameras, cars and furniture all seeming to lack personality and individualism.
In contrast the Memphis Group offered bright, colourful, shocking pieces. The colours they used contrasted the dark blacks and browns of European furniture. It may look dated today but at the time it looked remarkable. The word tasteful is not normally associated with products generated by the Memphis Group but they were certainly ground breaking at the time.
All this would seem to suggest that the Memphis Group was very superficial but that was far from the truth. Their main aim was to reinvigorate the Radical Design movement. The group intended to develop a new creative approach to design.
On the 11th of December 1980 Scottsass organised a meeting with other such famous designers. They decided to form a design collaborative. It would be named Memphis after the Bob Dylan song Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again. Coincidentally the song had been played repeatedly throughout the evening.
Memphis was historically the ancient Egyptian capital of culture and the birthplace of 'Elvis Presley'. This was quite ironic but so were most of the pieces created by the group.
The group decided that they would meet again in February 1981. By that time each member would have had time to generate design proposals. When they did meet themembers of the group had produced over a hundred drawings, each bold, colourful.
They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, styles such as the 1950's Kitsch and futuristic themes. Their concepts were in stark contrast to so called 'Good Design'.
The group approached furniture and ceramic companies commissioning them to batch produce their design concepts. On the 18th of September 1981 the group showed its work for the first time at the Arc '74 showroom in Milan. The show exhibited clocks, lighting, furniture and ceramics created by internationally famous architects and designers.
In the same year the group published the book 'Memphis, The New International Style. The book served to advertise the groups work.
Many of the pieces featured in the exhibition were coated in brightly, colourful laminates. Laminates are most commonly used to protect kitchen furniture and surfaces from staining as a result of spillage. The group specifically chose this material because of its obvious lack of culture.
The work of the Memphis Group has been described as vibrant, eccentric and ornamental. It was conceived by the group to be a 'fad', which like all fashions would very quickly come to an end. In 1988 Sottsass dismantled the group.
The group may no longer exist but it has certainly influenced graphic design, restaurant design, fabrics and furnishing.
External links
- Memphis-Milano Design Collection
- Memphis Design Group Official Site
- Memphis Design at the Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
. - Memphis style article from the NY times 2007.
- Core77 Memphis Blog Post
- Article about the Memphis Group
- Design Museum Page on Memphis
- A Guardian article about the impact of Memphis