Ettore Sottsass Jr.
Was born in Innsbrück, Austria in 1917. In 1939 he graduated in architecture from Politecnico of Turin. He started out on his professional career, working with his father, the architect Ettore Sottsass Sr., an important figure in italian rationalism. Immediately after the war he moved to Milan, where he set up a studio to deal with architectual and design projects.
In 1958 he started to work with Olivetti as design consultant for more than than twenty years and designed numerious items, which now form part of permanent collections of museums such as the MOMA in New York, the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, the Denver Art Museum and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This work was to gain him four 'compassi d'oro'.
'I make no special difference between architecture and design, they are two different stages of invention.'
He continued to devote time to design culture, taking part in projects aimed at
renewing the language of contemporary design. This research was to lead to the
creation of several hundreds of objects, mostly one-off, exhibited at various personal
shows in international galleries and museums.
Died on 31st december 2007 in his abitation in Milan for a cardiac deficit during an ill at the age of ninety.
'If you think you're meeting your destiny on the other side of a door you may not be interested in its design.'
Sources: designboom.com