Ettore Sottsass Metaphors

A personal diary with writings, illustrations and photographs by Ettore Sottsass offering a glimpse and an overview of his lengthy and prosperous career. The volume constitutes a sort of intimate diary and reflection through images by one of the greatest designers of our time, with evocative photographs taken by the author himself. Conceived and designed in its entirety by Ettore Sottsass, the book is at once a homage to the Milanese architect and designer’s conceptual and artistic experiences between the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies and an interesting reinterpretation of them. Considered one of the world’s most acute and provocative designers since World War II, the founder of Memphis and an icon of postmodern culture, Sottsass has always combined his work in the field of design with the use of photography as a means of reflecting on reality and the role of vision. The historical phase covered in this book is fully representative of a crucial moment of research and confrontation with the avant- garde movements in contemporary art―from Pop Art to Land Art―and at the same time provides an opportunity for a meditation, often ironic, on the role of the architect today. The photographs and graphic materials, executed in the United States, Italy and Spain between 1968 and 1976―and previously unpublished―have been assembled by the author himself and arranged in a sort of melodramatic account a posteriori in which the author holds a dialogue with his past and his memory. A private journal and at the same time a story told in pictures, which reveals the complex cultural and visual roots of Sottsass’s work as well as offering us a glimpse of the great designer’s mental and creative processes.