Memphis. Waterfall College Design Notes 1

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Giles Bond
5 years ago
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1 Memphis Waterfall College Design Notes 1

2 Memphis The Memphis Group was an Italian design and architecture group founded in Milan by Ettore Sottsass in 1981 that designed Post Modern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass and metal objects. (Post modernism = a movement favouring the intentional mixing of a wide variety of styles and material) They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art including styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic themes. The group's colourful furniture has been described as "bizarre", "misunderstood", "loathed", and "a shotgun wedding between Bauhaus and Fisher-Price". You were in one sense repulsed by the objects, or I was, but also immediately freed by the sort of total rule-breaking." What was the movement all about? Sottsass and his collaborators longed to be liberated from the tyranny of smart, but soulless good taste in design. Their solution was to continue the experiments with uncoventional materials, historic forms, kitsch motifs and gaudy colours. Designs were made of flashily coloured plastic laminates emblazoned with kitsch geometric and leopard-skin patterns usually found in 1950s comic books or cheap cafés. Memphis designers claimed to be glorying in the cheesiness of consumer culture, expressing an overt attachment to materialistic values or possessions - linked with high spending on goods and services beyond needs, more wants. Memphis designers rejected ideas of modernism (few colours, minimal decoration, functional, utilitarian) and their definitions of good design. The Memphis movement, through their use of unconventional shapes, patterns and colours tried to develop a new creative approach to challenge accepted ideas of good design. Form SWALLOWS function, rather than form follows function. Memphis embraced the ephemeral nature of fashion that Memphis designs would eventually go out of style. Waterfall College Design Notes 2

3 Memphis Style Influence of Technology and new materials Fibre Glass: a plastic re-enforced by threads of glass used to make Memphis furniture. Industrial/commercial materials: like galvanised sheeting and neon lighting used in domestic settings. Laminate: a manmade material made by placing thin layers of material on top of one another ( usually stronger) Plastic laminate: a cheap, water resistant, easy to clean material associated with kitchens/bathroom used for furniture in living rooms and bedroom settings. Laminates were most commonly used at that time to protect kitchen furniture, but the group specifically chose this material because of its obvious lack of culture. Application/use of materials A very unconventional use of materials. Played with materials in fun combinations - Mixed cheap and expensive materials, from popular culture and high culture; real vs fake. For example Sottsass mixed painted steel with pink chintz and plastic laminate in the Riveria Chair Production techniques Used expensive materials ( like marble /stainless steel) alongside cheap everyday materials ( like plastic laminates). Wanted to mass production but only produced in small BATCHES for educated and affluent few. Convinced their designs should have short life span (part of fashion). Iconoclastic: destructive of established accepted beliefs Kitsch: over colourful, tasteless, sentimental or cheap looking art Modernism: a movement favouring designs based on function, truth to materials and without unnecessary decoration Post modernism: a movement favouring the intentional mixing of a wide variety of styles and materials Radical design: ground-breaking or revolutionary designs Affluent: rich Consumerism: attachment to materialistic values or possessions - linked with high spending on goods and services beyond needs, more wants. Culture: a belief system that is shared by a particular group of people in a particular time of history Ephemeral design: lasting for a very short time - like fashion or trends Avant garde: to describe designers or ideas that are ahead of their time Disorder, irregularity, unstructured. Playful, shocking, vibrant, frivolous, eccentric, eclectic Strong patterns and bright colours Waterfall College Design Notes 3

1. Ettore Sottsass Memphis Designers Founder of Memphis group Carlton Bookcase Clashing colours Fake printed base- called `Bacterio` is a laminate pattern designed by Sottsass Expresses fun and

Laminates were most commonly used at that time to protect kitchen furniture, but the group specifically chose this material because of its obvious lack of culture Agra Sofa This couch is part

4 1. Ettore Sottsass Memphis Designers Founder of Memphis group Carlton Bookcase Clashing colours Fake printed base- called `Bacterio` is a laminate pattern designed by Sottsass Expresses fun and creative design over pure function in its angled shelves and decoration in bright colours New use of materials: Most products were finished in brightly coloured plastic laminates. Laminates were most commonly used at that time to protect kitchen furniture, but the group specifically chose this material because of its obvious lack of culture Agra Sofa This couch is part upholstered (with an everyday cheap fabric) and part marble (expensive with an historical heritage) This is an unusual quirky combination. Use of Materials: Wacky combination of white and grey Marble with "Zambia" patterned chintz fabric design by Nathalie du Pasquier. The form of this Memphis design is based on the appearance, not on ergonomics or comfort (functionality) It is very upright and the cold and hard material of the back rest would be uncomfortable Shows how Memphis valued the look of an object over the function wanted to make design like ART its only function is to exist Waterfall College Design Notes 4

Casablanca Sideboard Multi-functional - designed to combine storage and display while also serving as a storage display room divider Designs use individually coloured

Garish colour, pattern and strange winged shape went against the Modernist belief that form should follow function.

like animals (zoomorphic) or have human like qualities (anthropomorphic) to make them fun and understandable Fun use of colours and shapes Playful toy-like shapes Tahiti

5 Casablanca Sideboard Multi-functional - designed to combine storage and display while also serving as a storage display room divider Designs use individually coloured and patterned extending elements that project from the centre. The angled arms are intended to hold winebottles. Garish colour, pattern and strange winged shape went against the Modernist belief that form should follow function. Decorated with colours and patterns on plastic laminate designed Tahiti Lamp Memphis aimed to make domestic appliances less hostile So everyday objects were made to look like animals (zoomorphic) or have human like qualities (anthropomorphic) to make them fun and understandable Fun use of colours and shapes Playful toy-like shapes Tahiti lamp is an enamelled metal "duck" a zoomorphic shape. It has a pivoting head mounted on a black and white confetti-patterned laminated base Memphis designs often used asymmetrical shapes and worked with shapes not defined by the function of the design Waterfall College Design Notes 5

Was focused on truth to materials tubular steel, reinforced concrete. Farnsworth House - Mies Van Der Rohe

Was focused on truth to materials tubular steel, reinforced concrete. Farnsworth House - Mies Van Der Rohe International Style (Modernism) 20 s - 70 s International Style, also referred to at Modernism, was an architecture, furniture and product design style. They believed that a design of an object should