Ettore Sottsass

1. I chose Etttore Sottsass because I was familiar with his Carlton Room Divider and I wanted to learn more about him.
2. He has a degree in architecture from Politecnico di Turino.
3. His most famous works include the Carlton Room Divider, his Valentine Typewriter, and his Telefono Enorme

1. He is influenced by his use of bold lacquered color and his recreations of conventionally functional objects in fun design oriented colorways. Interestingly, he disliked having his products read as “consumerist” which lead him to design more experimental/non-consumerist objects later in his life.
2. From researching Sotsass, I learned that architects and product designers have the freedom to examine those objects that we generally consider boring and utilitarian and remake them in a manner that brings a small amount of joy to many people’s daily lives. The difficulty with doing this, however, is that these objects run the risk of quickly becoming dated, even if they don’t necessarily look it. His typewriter and phone designs have arguably been upended by the rise of the computer and cell phones. Regardless, these are still objects that it would be amazing to own.