Memphis

Memphis Group was an Italian design and architecture collective founded by Ettore Sottsass in Milan in 1980 and active between 1981 and 1988. The group became one of the most influential design movements of the 1980s through its colourful and playful visual language, which challenged the functionalism and minimalism of modernist design. The collective brought together more than 60 designers and architects from around the world and produced furniture, textiles, ceramics, glassware, and interior objects. Memphisgruppen is characterised by bold colours, geometric forms, asymmetry, and graphic patterns, often combined with unconventional materials such as laminate and coloured glass. The group gained international recognition at the Milan furniture fair in 1981. Its name “Memphis” was inspired by Bob Dylan’s song Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again. Although Memphis design was considered provocative and extreme during the 1980s, it has since come to be recognised as an iconic expression of postmodern design and a defining symbol of the decade’s experimental aesthetics.