the class-o-matic

digital one, consider for a moment how this

cupboard/sideboard by Ettore Sottsass Jr.,

differs from that of the furniture we recently

studied by Carlo Bugatti. Be prepared to

discuss it. both names are linked

In 1980, Ettore Sottsass, Jr., one of the senior

Italian designers of the time, founded the Milan

design cooperative Memphis with two colleagues,

Andrea Branzi and Allesandro Mendini. Memphis

pieces, such as the "Casablanca" cabinet displayed

here, were self-consciously flamboyant riffs on the

postmodern design then in vogue. Although the

cooperative lasted only for five years, its risky

exuberance expanded the boundaries of modern

furniture and continues to influence designers today.