In this blog, i'll be talking about a very unusual piece of furniture from the post-modern era, its called the ‘Casablanca Sideboard’, created in 1981 by Ettore Sottsass. Looking at the Casablanca I see a disfigured sideboard, tame in style towards the centre but explodes outwards for books and wine storage. The colour is the first thing that really hit me when seeing this, vivid and garish. The bold colour of the leopard print red, pale blue and yellow were very overpowering. It took me a good few seconds to even notice the black base. The pattern makes me think of growing bacteria and it isn't helped when the overall look of it seems like a dead insect. The texture is smooth laminate finish and is very far from the pattern makes it out to be like. Its clear that the use of straight lines and unique appearance that Ettore was going for a standout piece.
Within the cluttered style and pattern, there is some control with the symmetric shelves. Looking on the Internet I found that he designed the sideboard to have a cheap and simple fibreboard base, I also think to make sure he had a flat and smooth surface to add the plastic laminate finish. It stands at 230cm high and 161.5cm wide, which means it can also be used as a room divider, a big piece of art, book shelves and also a traditional sideboard. Ettore Sottsass was a great designer and was responsible many different works including glass, lighting, jewellery, furniture and office machine design. He grew up around architects and even gained a degree on the subject, eventually setting up his own architectural and industrial design studio. Ettore wanted to reintroduce colour, iconography and wit. This led to it being the standout piece it is today, mainly being influenced by different popular tastes of the 1950’s. ‘American 'diner' interiors and the wipe-clean furniture of the kitchenette influenced the use of laminated plastic’ - V&A Museum website, this was a very good sentence describing the style he used, and I think says a lot about the change in design Ettore and the Memphis group wanted to make on the industry.
Within the cluttered style and pattern, there is some control with the symmetric shelves. Looking on the Internet I found that he designed the sideboard to have a cheap and simple fibreboard base, I also think to make sure he had a flat and smooth surface to add the plastic laminate finish. It stands at 230cm high and 161.5cm wide, which means it can also be used as a room divider, a big piece of art, book shelves and also a traditional sideboard. Ettore Sottsass was a great designer and was responsible many different works including glass, lighting, jewellery, furniture and office machine design. He grew up around architects and even gained a degree on the subject, eventually setting up his own architectural and industrial design studio. Ettore wanted to reintroduce colour, iconography and wit. This led to it being the standout piece it is today, mainly being influenced by different popular tastes of the 1950’s. ‘American 'diner' interiors and the wipe-clean furniture of the kitchenette influenced the use of laminated plastic’ - V&A Museum website, this was a very good sentence describing the style he used, and I think says a lot about the change in design Ettore and the Memphis group wanted to make on the industry.
Looking at the other work he produced with the Memphis group I can see that they were very outgoing and that anything normal would have to changed to the point of madness in some cases. The fabrics they produced at the time that the Casablanca was designed, were outstanding and i think are amazing. However I feel that the look has been dumbed down and used in general places such as car seat covers and bus covers over time and has not done justice to the unique look and style they made for themselves.
When researching this I found that the Sideboard was originally from Milan in Italy and he was in works with Memphis about the style, discussing the manufacturing of the furniture piece and the current trend that was at the time. The Memphis group was known for unusual shapes, finishes, patterns, fluorescent colours and this piece came out the time they were doing this and therefore the iconic style.
‘Sottsass formed the anti-design group Memphis in 1981. Memphis was made up mostly of young designers who, along with Sottsass, were interested in producing radical objects and furniture that debated the relevance of modern design. His 1986 "Teodora" chair and the 1981 "Casablanca" sideboard illustrated the light, playful attitude of his postmodern Memphis designs. The work produced in the 1990s and 2000s also included more sculptural ceramic work and decorative glass works produced in limited editions for Venini and Vistosi.’ - Via r20thCentury Website
Looking at the piece from Century website I can see how they developed their style and why the sideboard is more of a distinct and overall playful design. On an auction site I found that this particular sideboard was selling in the region of $13,000, as of 2006. When visiting this item at the V&A museum I spoke to a curator there and he told me that the Memphis group, that Sottsass formed with other designers of that time, originally started their collection and had around 40 pieces ranging from small to big. He went on to say that its was because of the range of furniture they were producing, and also things such as ceramics, lighting, different textiles, glass pieces etc, that they ended up with such outrageous pieces and really developed off each others pieces and often used parts of a typical piece in another piece to make it unique. He said, however, one of the big pulls of the Memphis groups works and Sottsass himself, was the use of such vivid and fluorescent colours and the ‘slick’ surfaces, as I talked about earlier.
The main thing that affected Ettore while creating pieces like this, in my opinion, was the massive pull the style now had all over the world because its unique and bold appearance. This lead to the culture surrounding the work being put into all sorts of different things, such as electronics, foreign furniture and also showrooms design. By doing this, creating his own studios and his designers friends opening their own studios has spurred people on to continue this style of work and why it is still around today, using the same philosophy they worked by.
‘Although the patterns and materials of Memphis designs were drawn from popular taste, the furniture was too expensive for the average customer. However, by drawing on so-called 'low taste', the Memphis group introduced a new spirit of fun and fantasy into design.’ - V&A Museum website
In conclusion i feel that Ettore didn't just manage to create a unique sideboard but he managed to create a style that together with the Memphis group he got everywhere. As Sottsass himself said, ‘Memphis is not new, Memphis is everywhere’. This, in my opinion, would have to be one of the best things you could say about your work.
Therefore they designed it to be more of their style by using the growing consumer culture for jazzed up designs and crazy neon colours.
I think the sideboard piece was created with the intention of being sold to people sick of the boring designs and everyday furniture that was being pumped into every home at the time. I think a written piece on the Design Museum website puts it the best, saying;
‘It was an exuberant two-fingered salute to the design establishment after years in which colour and decoration had been been taboo.’ - Design Museum website
Bibliography
Bibliography
V&A Museum & website http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O58652/casablanca-sideboard-sottsass-ettore-junior/
Design Museum website
r20th Century website
ArtNet Auctions website
Scran website
Brooklyn Museum website
Philadelphia Museum website
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/76341.html
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