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The Memphis-Milano Movement 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

Group members

The group was co-founded by Ettore Sottsass led on 16 December 

1980, and resolved to meet again with their designs in February 1981.

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, which eventually counted among its members AlessandroMendini, 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,[1] Sottsass

left the group in 1985 and it disbanded in 1988 after the last 1987

collection.

Origins

Ettore Sottsass called Memphis design the "New International Style".

In contrast the Memphis Group offered bright, colorful, shocking pieces.

The colors they used contrasted the dark blacks and browns of 

European furniture.

All this would seem to suggest that the Memphis Group was very

superficial but that was far from the truth. The group intended todevelop a new creative approach to design.

On 11 December 1980 Ettore Sottsass organized 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.

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They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art,

styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic and in 1972 the themes.

Their concepts were in stark contrast to so called 'Good Design'.

Memphis was the collective name of a group of architects anddesigners who were working in Milan – among them George Sowden,

Michele de Lucchi, Marco Zanini, Aldo Cibic, Matheo Thun, Nathalie du

Pasquier and Martine Bedin, who were strongly influenced by the

radical work of their ‘mentor’, the older architect and designer, Ettore

Sottsass (b. 1917), who had worked for Olivetti through the 1960s as

well as experimenting on his own designs from the 1950s through to the

1970s. The group produced and exhibited, annually between 1981 to

1988, collections of radical one-off designs – furniture and decorative

art objects for the most part – which, with their unconventional shapes,

brightly-colored and patterned surfaces and apparent disregard for 

function, shocked the international design establishment and caused a

widespread re-think about the rational, all-black, industry-oriented

conventions of the ‘modern’ design of the day and the emergence of a

new movement, often referred to as ‘Post-Modernism’.

In contrast the Memphis Group offered bright, colourful, shockingpieces. The colours they used contrasted the dark blacks and browns of European furniture. It may look dated today but at the time it lookedremarkable. The word tasteful is not normally associated with productsgenerated by the Memphis Group but they were certainly groundbreaking at the time.

All this would seem to suggest that the Memphis Group was verysuperficial but that was far from the truth. Their main aim was toreinvigorate theRadical Design movement. The group intended to

develop a new creative approach to design.

On the 11th of December 1980 Scottsass organised a meeting withother such famous designers. They decided to form a designcollaborative. It would be named Memphis after the Bob Dylan song''Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again''. Coincidentallythe song had been played repeatedly throughout the evening.

Memphis was historically the ancient Egyptian capital of culture and thebirthplace of 'Elvis Presley'. This was quite ironic but so were most of 

the pieces created by the group.

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Memphis Pictures