Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass, an Italian architect and designer of the late twentieth   century. He focused mostly on furniture, jewellery, glass and lighting. He was different from other European designers that wanted to seek on technology after the war. He just wanted to build products connected with creativity that can make a better live for the user with less technology possible or else use the technology of that day.




One of his designs is the Aluminium Lamp it was made in 1955. This is not a finalised product neither with a solid material or great design. It was just the study of how the light acts with the aluminium all over, surrounding it 360 degrees. It even does not have any type of technology, the lamp was made from aluminium sheets cut and folded so as to create movement. For me this is not a great design but it makes a huge discovery of how the light acts. Every designer does his experimental designs and then move onto their real product, whether Sottsass did not bother to use his studies as a final product.

 Aluminium lamp

Another design of his is the Valentine, the portable typewriter case. Their were a lot of different designs of this typewriter. He came up with an idea of a case, like a suitcase where you can take it anywhere you like without and struggle, just grab the handle and leave. He used ABS plastic, despite its simplicity. This typewriter had a huge role in that period where design was interacting with technology. He also gave it a primary colour to get the attention. In my opinion for those days it was a great technology with an amazing design, it was something to show off. It is like the iPad of the past.

Valentine typewriter

A furniture that i really liked is the Adesso Pero. It is a bookshelf it was made in 1992. This is an unusual look for a bookshelf because it has three pillars standing upright with nine red trapeziums each upside down. Their shape is in that specific way to have a small gap and place a glass surface to place the books on it. You can put the glass surface where you want and how many you would like. In my opinion is a great design and it's function, I would only change the colour to a warmer one such as caramel, brown or smoke yellow.

 Adesso Pero

Sottsass worked on multiple products but he never focused on one theme. He wanted to experiment and expand the industry of design with a better function and with great views.

Bibliography: Patrizia Ranzo, 2011. Minimum Design, Ettore Sottsass