Ettore Sottsass - Industrial Design

At the age of 90, Italian architect and furniture designer Ettore Sottsass is still shaking up the design world with his irreverent flair. Co-founding the design collective Memphis in 1981, Sottsass became known for brightly colored, outrageously playful designs that defined '80s style. Although his more recent furniture is a somber mélange of polished aluminum, warm wood, and clear plastic, the tone is just as impudent. The towering cabinets on view at Friedman Benda are stacks of mismatching pieces — in Cabinet nr. 72, cold metal shelves rest on a dresser of polished tropical wood teetering on clear acrylic legs. Cabinets nr. 76 and nr. 67 also walk the line between subdued elegance and cheek, but his glass works are unapologetically bright and colorful. (BR)

An exhibition of Ron Arad's aluminum chairs is also on view at Friedman Benda through October 27.

One of the most significant counter-forces to modernism in the history of design, Ettore Sottsass has made monumental artistic contributions to every decade since 1945. His remarkable career has produced a provocative body of work, including architecture, furniture, industrial design, glass, ceramics, painting, photography and a wealth of writings. With this work he has consistently intellectually and aesthetically challenged the conventional wisdom of forms and proportions for over 65 years. Having celebrated his 90th birthday in September, Sottsass continues to produce work through Sottsass Associati, the architecture and design practice he founded in Milan in 1985.