Memphis: Plastic Field

In 1981, the Italian designer Ettore Sottsass, emerging from the adventure of the Alchymia studio, brought together a collective of young architects and designers around him in order to shatter the codes of modernity. His aura attracted leading creators such as Andrea Branzi, Michael Graves, Shiro Kuramata, Alessandro Mendini and Marco Zanuso.

Memphis' first exhibition in Milan, in 1981, had the effect of a bomb on the European design landscape, and radically renewed the language of shapes and colors. The group understood the object through its meaning and its presence, leaving the field of sole functionality to embrace that of visual communication, carried by an unprecedented freedom.

Thanks to the support of Ernesto Gismondi, the president of Artemide, the eight collections that Memphis produced until 1988 were a resounding success on a global scale, with objects that became classics, such as the Carlton bookshelves by Ettore Sottsass, the First chair by Michele De Lucchi or the Super lamp by Martine Bedin.

On the occasion of the exhibition at the MADD-Bordeaux, this book returns to the genesis of this movement which put democratic culture at the heart of design and reintegrated ornament and decoration into its codes with irreverent humor.

Accompanied by testimonies from its founding members, it reproduces all of the collective's pieces, almost 400 works.

Work co-published with the MADD-Bordeaux.

21 x 28 cm, 216 pages, 450 illustrations. Soft cover with dust jacket

 

Constance Rubini is director of the MADD-Bordeaux, where she notably organized the retrospective “Construction: Martin Szekely” in 2018. An art historian, she was in charge of the cultural programming of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, and curator of the exhibitions “Nobody's Perfect by Gaetano Pesce” (2002-2003), “Inga Sempé” (2003), and “Drawing design” (2009-2010). In 2010, she was general curator of the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne.

Jean Blanchaert is an art critic and gallery owner in Milan. He is the curator of numerous exhibitions, including “Robert Wilson in Glass” at the Berengo Foundation in 2017 and “Homo Faber: Crafting a More Human Future” at the Cini Foundation in Venice in 2018.
Contributions from Andrea Branzi, Michele De Lucchi, Martine Bedin, Barbara Radice and George Sowden.

Text in English only

Constance Rubini est directrice du madd-bordeaux, où elle a notamment organisé la rétrospective « Construction. Martin Szekely » en 2018. Historienne de l’art, elle a été en charge de la programmation culturelle du musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris, et commissaire des expositions « Nobody’s Perfect by Gaetano Pesce » (2002-2003), « Inga Sempé » (2003), « Dessiner le design » (2009- 2010). En 2010, elle a été commissaire générale de la Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne. Jean Blanchaert est critique d’art et galeriste à Milan. Il est le commissaire de nombreuses expositions, dont « Robert Wilson in Glass » à la Fondation Berengo en 2017 ou « Homo Faber : Crafting a More Human Future » à la Fondation Cini à Venise en 2018. Contributions d’Andrea Branzi, Michele De Lucchi, Martine Bedin, Barbara Radice et George Sowden.