Ettore Sottsass: Design begins where magic begins

Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) was a globally acclaimed master of twentieth-century Italian design. Starting in the 1950s, he created masterworks as a designer for Olivetti and Poltronova. In 1981, he organized the Memphis Group, an international design collective. He and other Memphis members created designs that were regarded as Post Modern and that had a great influence on their generation. Sottsass questioned pursuing excessive rationalism and sought to restore the sensation of people living freely and vibrantly. Through fresh designs filled with humor, he aimed to shine a bright light on the lifestyles, lives, and fates of the people of his time. This exhibition, the first Sottsass retrospective in Japan, will display 112 of his works, from his early to later periods, that the Ishibashi Foundation has collected and introducing an abundance of designs brimming with creativity.