I am going to talk about a movement that was and still is very popular. The Memphis movement affected a lot of product designs, e.g furniture.
The Memphis Group was an Italian design and architecture group founded in Milan by Ettore Sottsass in 1981 which designed Post-modern furniture, fabrics, ceramics, glass and metal objects from 1981 to 1987. Memphis was a reaction against the slick, black gloomy design of the 1970’s. In contrast the Memphis Group offered bright, colourful, shocking pieces. The colours they used contrasted the dark blacks and browns of European furniture.
They got inspiration from such movements as Art Deco and Pop Art, styles such as the 1950’s Kitsch and futuristic themes. Their concepts were in stark contrast to so called ‘Good Design’. Their main aim was to modernize the Radical Design movement. The group intended to develop a new creative approach to design.
Many of the designs implied to earlier or exotic styles and were based on asymmetrical shapes.
I think the Memphis group was one of the first movements to open our eyes to new ways. They created something new and colourful out of simple and boring furniture. They made simple things look fun!
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