Memphis Design Group, by Ashley Stephenson

MEMPHIS DESIGN GROUP

ashley stephensonorange sparkle ball

MEMPHISwas a Milan-based collective of young furniture and designers led by Ettore Sottsass.

After its 1981 debut, Memphis dominated the early 1980’s design scene with its post-modernist style.

Memphis incited designers of everyday objects to break away from clean-cut mainstream modern European design.

“You were either for it, or against it. All the boring old designers hated it. The rest of us loved it.” Bill Moggridge, co-founder of the IDEO industrial design group

They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, styles such as the 1950’s Kitsch and futuristic themes.

Characteristics include vivid colors, geometric patterns, abstract shapes, and unconventional materials.

The Memphis Milano Movement began in Italy in 1981, but it

DEFINED THE “80’s LOOK” in the United States for the following decade.

DARKROOM PRESENTS: SO SOTTSASS (London, 2013)Honoring the work of Memphis designer Ettore Sottsass with an in-store tribute featuring a limited edition collection.

MEMPHIS DESIGN MEETS HAUTE COUTURE:Christian Dior’s Fall-Winter Collection 2011

CURRENTLY IN THE MARKET...

ASHLEY’S HOUSE

“I am a designer and I want to design things,

What else would I do?Go fishing?”

- ETTORE SOTTSASS