Memphis
On the evening of 11 December 1980, in his home in Milano, along with Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass welcomed young Martine Bedin, Aldo Cibic, Michele de Lucchi, Nathalie Du Pasquier, George J. Sowden e Matteo Thun to discuss new forms of expression. This group of disruptive designers and architects creates, over the next few days, a new and revolutionary collection of design pieces. On 9 February 1981 they gathered again – with over 100 drawings of furnishings on the table –, marking the beginning of Memphis.
The novelty of Memphis is a new way to see the relationship between design and society. The functionality of an object is no longer the only necessary condition: every piece of design, now, has symbolic, poetic, affective meanings. In contrast with rationalism, the new communication codes of Memphis are characterized by bright and vibrant colour, geometric shapes, recognizable patterns and textures, references to “high” culture and popular culture.
The group lasted for the time necessary to put into practice an initial, revolutionary intuition: design pieces that would erode the stylistic unity of interiors, objects that identify strong codes of spatial identification. These are ideas that still inspire entire generations of designers today.
Likewise, for Memphis the archive cannot be reduced to a static repository of memories: the room that contains the Memphis furnishings is a living resource in continuing transformation, capable of generating new narratives. This is not a simple nostalgic reworking of the past, but a constant reassertion of the originality of the creations of Sottsass and the group. In other words, Memphis continues to be associated with innovation.
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