memphis

Question 1

CONTEXT

Answer 1

80s, Italy, created a range of furniture for Milan furniture fair, reaction against
modernism, fad, product as fashion, ironic, Sottsass was with Studio Alchimia
prior to Memphis and was working exploring anti-design. Bob Dylan song “Stuck Inside
of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again”

Question 2

FACTS: designer name and 2 designs

Answer 2

• Ettore Sottsass
  (Carlton Sideboard & Tahiti Lamp / Beverley Cabinet)

Question 3

ANALYSIS:
Characteristics of
movement and
detail of two
examples

Answer 3

Carlton Sideboard: Plastic Laminate. Symbolic monument to all things Memphis.
Part cartoon figure, part totem pole and part bookcase, the Carlton embodies Ettore Sottsass’
commitment to the joint stimuli of contemporary pop culture and ancient cultures.
Combining storage and display while also serving as a room divider. The angled arms are intended
to hold wine bottles. Its garish colour, pattern and strange winged shape went against the
Modernist belief that form should follow function.
Tahiti Lamp: Polychrome enameled metal “duck” with pivoting head mounted on a black and
white Bacterio laminate base. Copper bar doesn’t serve any function.

Question 4

TERMINOLOGY:

Answer 4

Kitsch (inexpensive, low taste)
Bacterio pattern (a pattern developed by Sottsass, which looks like bacteria under a microscope)
Plastic laminate (a plastic made of superposed layers of paper, wood, or fabric bonded with resin
and compressed under heat)
Ephemeral (lasting for a short time)
Anti-ergonomic (not taking into account the relationship between the user and use the design)