Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) Italian, (4) Mid Century Modern Mandarin Chairs for Knoll.

First developed for them in 1986, the Mandarin chair was a favorite for corporate interiors, restaurants, and libraries due to its flowing sculptural arms. These particular pieces were originally purchased by Walt Disney Studios. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 26 x 20 x 31 1/2 in. 

Ettore Sottsass was born on September 14th, 1917, in Innsbruck, Austria and grew up in Turin, Italy, where his father, also named Ettore Sottsass, was a modernist architect with the Movimento Italiano per l’Architettura Razionale (MIAR), led by Giuseppe Pagano. Sottsass attended Politecnico di Torino in Turin and graduated in 1939 with a degree in architecture. Sottsass enlisted in the Monterosa Division of the Repubblica Sociale Italiana, fighting the Allies in World War II, and after the war he settled in Milan where he opened his own architecture and design firm. His brightly colored whimsical works were often associated with pop culture, and his favorite mediums early on were glass and ceramic. By 1948 he had expanded his range to making furniture, jewelry, interior designs, and even photography, sculpture, and painting. In 1949 Sottsass married Fernanda Pivano, a writer, journalist, translator, and art critic. She encouraged him to devote himself to architecture and not be afraid to live in his father’s shadow, and from 1954 to 1957 he was a member of the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, eventually resigning to work for George Nelson at his offices in New York City. Sottsass and Pivano traveled extensively but returned to Italy frequently for Sottsass to work on commissions. In 1958, having designed electronic devices for Adriano Olivetti, he was scouted by Poltronova, a semi-industrial producer of modern furniture, to be their primary artistic consultant. The freedom he had there influenced many of his future designs, making functional objects pop with bright colors and unique assemblage. When Olivetti intended to step down and make him his successor Sottsass refused, instead creating the independent Studio Olivetti focused solely on research and strategy rather than fabrication. In 1968 the Royal College of Art in London granted Sottsass an honorary doctorate. With Perry A. King he created the Valentine typewriter in 1969, now considered a milestone in 20th Century design that is permanently featured in the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sottsass and Fernanda Pivano divorced in 1970, and in 1976 Sottsass married Barbara Radice, an art critic and journalist. His travels to India and the United States profoundly affected his aesthetic, leading to large altar-like ceramic sculptures and his “Superboxes.” He became a vocal critic of consumerism, and his work throughout the 1970s was defined by experimental collaborations with younger designers such as Superstudio and Archizoom Associati, and association with the Radical movement, culminating in the foundation of the Memphis Group (also known as Memphis Milan) in 1980. Focused on creating anything that disregarded “good taste,” their primary influences were Art Deco, Pop Art, and Kitsch. The unconventional group of designers and their creations were highly controversial at the time but had a profound influence on design aesthetics for future generations. Sottsass had also started a consulting company called Sottsass Associati the same year, and in 1985 he left the Memphis Group to focus on the Associati solely, building architectural works for large international industries including Esprit, Alessi, Apple, Philips, and Siemens. His vast body of work had its first major exhibition in the United States in 2006 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, just one year before his death on December 31st, 2007, at his home in Milan.

Commensurate with age.