Memphis—Surpassing Mere Representation

Memphis, the New International Style that emerged in 1981, was essentially an Italian movement and could be traced back to Milan. But due to the Italian designers’ cooperative nature, artists, architects and designers from all over the world were invited to join. Nonetheless, the initiative and concept remained true to the Italian designers’ cultural, societal and political understanding that began in the 1960s and that claimed that one should design as an individual, yet act as a community.

Known as disegno radicale, this movement reached the pinnacle of its success in 1972 with the exhibition Italy: the new domestic landscape in the MoMA in New York. Italian design thus received global recognition for its non-conformist approach and its willingness to experiment. Directly opposing attempts to design more ergonomically, uniformly and in keeping with the material, this Italian movement critically and playfully challenged consumer behavior, conventional approaches and mass production.

Predecessors of Memphis, such as Studio Alchimia, had sprung up in protest, declaring dissatisfaction with all objects of mass production. Memphis, however, had a more positive approach: “Memphis does not present itself as a homogenous movement or trend, but is instead homogenous in its optimistic approach to design, to its positions and development,” Barbara Radice wrote in 1981 about Memphis’ origins.

In the truest sense, Memphis cannot truly be referred to as a style, as is the case with Rococo or Art Deco. Instead, an eclectic mix of forms, materials, colors and surfaces characterizes Memphis’ core. Above all, the Italian designers never worried about so-called functionalism, as their designs aimed to appeal to all senses and never settled for mere functionality. Expressed radically, this could mean that the comfort of a chair is far less important than its appearance, for a person will sit on considerably fewer chairs than he or she will see throughout his or her life.

Memphis neither followed any kind of ideology nor was attached to any specific formalism. Instead, idealism seemed to be its main influence. Design was not intended to be exclusively limited to the creation of representational objects and design, but instead a form of coming to terms with human existence—it represented an attempt to arouse emotions through the object. While “good form” strove to give humans neutral surroundings, Memphis focused on presenting objects that one not only owned and loved, but also found challenging and that never left anyone indifferent.

In an interview on US television, Ettore Sottsass, the initiator and founder of the Memphis movement, who died in 2007 at the age of 90, was asked how he would like to be remembered. He answered: “Like a good friend—and somebody whose work inspires smiles.“

Chapter in “Modern Furniture – 150 Years of Design”
Thomas S. Bley, 2008