The Memphis Group was an influential Italian design and architecture movement of the 1980s. All Saints Chapel in the Cathedral Basilica of St. ... This article is about building architecture. ...

The Founders

The group was founded by Ettore Sottsass 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 fair. The group, which eventually counted among its members Michele de Lucchi, Matteo Thun, Javier Mariscal, Marco Zanini, Aldo Cibic, Andrea Branzi, Barbara Radice, Martine Bedin, George J. Sowden and Nathalie du Pasquier, disbanded in 1988. Ettore Sottsass (1917-) is an Italian designer of the late 20th century. ... is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... The Salone del Mobile Internazionale is the International Furniture Fair of Milan. ... // Famous architect and designer, Matteo Thun was born in 1952 in Bolzano, Italy. ... Javier Mariscal (born 1950 in Valencia) is an internationally-known multi-faceted designer who hails from Spain. ... Andrea Branzi Andrea Branzi is an architect and designer. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ...

The Origins

Named after the Bob Dylan song Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, the movement was a reaction against the post-Bauhaus "black box" designs of the 1970s and had a sense of humour that was lacking at the time in design. This article is about the recording artist. ... Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again is a song by Bob Dylan that appears on his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. ... Typography by Herbert Bayer above the entrance to the workshop block of the Bauhaus, Dessau, 2005. ...

The Memphis group was founded in 1981. One of the leading members of the group, Ettore Sottsass, called Memphis design the "New International Style". Ettore Sottsass (1917-) is an Italian designer of the late 20th century. ... The Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart, Germany (1927) The Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart, Germany (1930) The International style was a major architectural trend of the 1920s and 1930s. ...

The Memphis movement was a reaction against the slick, black, humourless design of the 1970s. It was a time of minimalism with such products as typewriters, buildings, cameras, cars and furniture all seeming to lack personality and individualism.

In contrast the Memphis Group offered bright, colourful, shocking pieces. The colours they used contrasted the dark blacks and browns of European furniture. The word tasteful is not normally associated with products generated by the Memphis Group but they were certainly ground breaking at the time.

All this would seem to suggest that the Memphis Group was very superficial but that was far from the truth. The group intended to develop a new creative approach to design.

On the 11th of December 1980 Ettore Sottsass organised 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. Ettore Sottsass (1917-) is an Italian designer of the late 20th century. ...

They drew inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, styles such as the 1950s Kitsch and futuristic themes. Their concepts were in stark contrast to so called 'Good Design'. Asheville City Hall. ... Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? (1956) is one of the earliest works to be considered pop art. ... Kitsch is a term of German origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior copy of an existing style. ...

The Theoretical Concepts Behind it

Prepared to mix 20th century styles, colours and materials, it positioned itself as a fashion rather than an academic movement, and hoped to erase the International Style where Postmodernism had failed, preferring an outright revival and continuation of Modernism proper rather than a re-reading of it. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... The Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart, Germany (1927) The Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart, Germany (1930) The International style was a major architectural trend of the 1920s and 1930s. ... The term Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated Pomo[1]) was a reaction to modernism (not post in the purely temporal sense of after). Largely influenced by the disillusionment induced by the Second World War, postmodernism tends to refer to a cultural, intellectual, or artistic state lacking a clear central hierarchy or organizing... For Christian theological modernism, see Liberal Christianity and Modernism (Roman Catholicism). ...

The Memphis group was comprised of Italian designers and architects who created a series of highly influential products in the 1980s. They disagreed with the approach of the time and challenged the idea that products had to follow conventional shapes, colours, textures and patterns.

The End

The work of the Memphis Group has been described as vibrant, eccentric and ornamental. It was conceived by the group to be a 'fad', which like all fashions would very quickly come to an end. In 1988, Sottsass dismantled the group.

Its Influence

While designers such as Philippe Starck were influenced by Memphis, the continuing rise of Minimalism in the 1990s saw a return to 'seriousness'. A book about Starck by Taschen Philippe Patrick Starck (born January 18, 1949) is a well-known French designer and probably the best known designer in the New Design style. ... Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. ...

References

• Article about the Memphis Group
• Design Museum Page on Memphis
• A Guardian article about the impact of Memphis