Memphis Group was founded in Milan in 1981 by Ettore Sottsass and Michele De Lucchi. At first the group existed as a branch of the studio "Alchemy" - a gallery of experimental works not intended for industrial production... The studio's design was elitist and consciously intelligent. The promotion of the "re-design" and "banal design" directions invented by the studio's creative leader became central to the ideology of the Alchemy studio, and Sottsass, who found this approach too limited, left the group. On December 11, 1980, several designers, led by Sottsass, gathered to discuss the need for a new direction in design. They decided to create a union that was named "Memphis" that night after Bob Dylan's song "Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again", which was played many times during the design meeting. The name also reminded of the ancient Egyptian cultural capital and the hometown of Elvis Presley, and therefore had double and even triple encryption.

In February 1981, the group met again. By this time, the members of the group had completed over a hundred sketches of bold colorful designs, drawing inspiration from both futuristic themes and decorative styles past, including Art Deco, 50s kitsch, and mocking the pretentiousness of "good design".

In September 1981, the group first showed their work at an exhibition in the showroom Arc "74 in Milan. The collection of furniture, lamps, clocks and ceramics presented in Milan was created by an international group of designers whose names have gone down in the history of modern design: Hans Hollein Hans Hollein, Shiro Kuramata, Peter Shire, Javier Mariscal, Massanori Umeda and Michael Graves The Memphis exhibition became a sensation in the design world.

In the same year, with the aim of promoting the new direction, the book "Memphis, a new international style" was published. The company Artemide, which during 1982 produced things created by the designers of the group, provided Memphis with its showroom in Milan, where the designers exhibited their new creations. From 1981 to 1988, the group's exhibitions were successfully held in London, Montreal, New York, Paris, Stockholm and Tokyo.

The Memphis style has become a real anarchy in design. It is difficult to distinguish "form-building features" in it, since it is focused exclusively on the expression of the designer's identity. But the common thing that unites is the sharpness of the gesture, a bold play with materials, textures and forms, a virtuoso mixing of styles. For all that, the Memphis style was attractive, witty and funny. He seemed to be shouting, "Don't take design too seriously!" Everything was screamingly colorful, playful and playful. One of the designers' favorite materials was laminate, which they valued for their "lack of nobility". From bars and ice cream cafes of the 50s and 60s, they moved it to residential buildings. Glass, steel, galvanized, aluminum, as well as laminate, began to be used in new meaningful combinations. Collages built on the principle of chaos were used. Many of the objects looked like children's toys. Memphis's design is a world of bright, pure color. The color juxtaposition is sharp, on the verge of kitsch, but this is where virtuosity is expressed - to balance on the verge. A paradoxical mixture of shapes, textures and textures, materials. Unexpected accents.

Playfully, Sottsass and his associates were solving serious problems: they refused to create things for the assembly line and think only about profit and high sales. Modern design, they said, should be of high quality and multifunctional. Not surprisingly, the first clients of Sottsass Associates were such famous companies like Mandelli, Brionvega, Wella. The original models of looms, TVs, hair dryers appeared. Designers were looking for new expressive means, practical and inexpensive materials, solved many technical issues on their own. Unlike the Alchemy studio, the Memphis designers immediately set themselves the goal of establishing a connection between the design object and the consumer. In their activities, they used new knowledge in sociology and marketing: They sought not just to supply the market, but with an orientation to certain social groups. As a result, this led, both aesthetically and conceptually, to a new understanding of design.

The mix of themes and indirect citation of the styles of the past, used by the designers of "Memphis", contributed to the creation of the style of post-modernist design. The band members have always been aware that Memphis was a "passing fad" associated with the fluidity of fashion, and in 1988, as the band's popularity began to wane, Sottsass disbanded it. Despite its brevity, the Memphis phenomenon, with its youthful energy and ironic approach to design, proved to be central to the creation of an international movement. "Memphis" paved the way for anti-functional trends in European design, which were named " new design".

Based on materials:
"History of Design" Volume 2, S. Mikhailov
Design of 20th century, Charlotte & Peter Fiell, Taschen, 2005

Memphis

December 1980, Milan, Italy

Legendary design group with colorful furnishings and recognizable style
from the 80s are gaining popularity again.

Omar Sosa

Art director of Apartamento magazine

Omar Sosa is the art director of the renowned interior design magazine Apartamento, which he founded in 2008 with his friend, photographer Nacho Alegre. Apartamento publishes its own books and collaborates with stationery manufacturers.

Memphis style

I always liked what Memphis did but now their design has become even more popular. This is probably due to the fashion in the 1980s - the Memphis aesthetics greatly influenced the style of those years, although the group did not last long. I am delighted that all members of the group

worked in the same style - it is almost impossible to distinguish the works of one designer from another. Sure, the Memphis members would kill me for saying this, but their designs seem very unified if you haven't studied the topic.

All Memphis members had different backgrounds: some were artists, some were architects, others were designers, and that's why the group's projects were so interesting. Of course, Memphis furniture was not very practical. If you say that design is a solution to problems, then Memphis cannot be considered design. But design is also a certain style, and sometimes a historical value - and then Memphis projects can be called an important chapter in the history of design. Group value for contemporary art also cannot be denied.

Natalie du Pasquier and Apartamento

Patterns and textures at Memphis were handled by Natalie Du Pasquier. I accidentally came across some of Natalie's works on the Internet and immediately showed them to Nacho Alegre, with whom we are doing Apartamento. We tried to find out more about her work, and I saw Natalie's paintings depicting everyday objects - compositions with dishes, a telephone, some ordinary things. It is especially great to see her work in person: she depicts all objects 2-3 times larger than life size. Natalie's drawings are very subtle and the choice of colors is good too.

Distinguishing the work of one Memphis designer from another is almost impossible.

A year later, we started working together on a project for the Japanese brand MARK "S. Apartamento released notebooks with plastic covers, which depict the work of three authors: Natalie du Pasquier, Eli Kishimoto and Bertian Pot. In fact, I do not participate much in our projects - Natalie draws and designs everything herself.She works very quickly - she paints pictures every day, and when she is not painting, she draws or comes up with some kind of project.

It amazes me that she almost does not spend time thinking - she does it right away, without planning everything for too long. It's amazing, because I work in a completely different way: I discuss everything with the client for a long time, then I think over the budget - there are a lot of approvals, and Natalie does everything instantly.

After the breakup of the group

After the breakup of Memphis, all members of the group, except for Ettore Sottsass, who unfortunately died in 2007, continue to design - and often they do completely different things. For example, George Souden comes up with very minimalistic teapots for his Sowden brand and tries to create the perfect filters - it's not only design, but also technology. Natalie only worked as a design for a few years during the 1980s (after the collapse of Memphis she devoted herself entirely to painting) and since that time there are hundreds of sketches left.

As a part of Memphis, she came up with a lot of design projects, and almost no one saw them. Natalie has come up with amazing furniture, but her designs are more of an illustration. She did not think over the furniture the way an industrial designer could, and therefore only the most restrained projects were implemented, and the crazy ones remained on paper. She showed me whole suitcases full of her works - it's amazing! It seems to me that now we can give them a second life.

Memphis: Timeline

At the end of December 1980 64-year-old Italian architect and former art director of Olivetti Ettore Sottsas gathers young designers Michele de Lucchi, Martin Beden, Aldo Cibic, Matteo Thun and Marco Zanini in his Milan apartment and talks about his plans to launch a furniture line. Memphis, a design group made up of Sottsass and young creators, is born. A few months later Natalie du Pasquier and George Souden join her.

Exhibition opens on September 18 Memphis at the Arc'74 showroom in Milan. Among other objects, the exhibition features Martin Beden's Superlamp, which would later become one of the group's most recognizable pieces. Also at the Milan exhibition they show Carlton - Ettore Sottsass's famous multi-colored wardrobe. The show is a huge success.

Memphis book comes out: The New International Style, which lays out the main ideas of the design group.

We would like to greet all readers of D. Magazine in the new 2013, and start it with a short story about the revolutionaries and innovators in design at the end of the last millennium, the famous creative group “Memphis”.

The design boom of the 1980s saw a significant rise in its role in modern business politics. During this time, the pace of cultural and technological development of society accelerated significantly, and design - the child of the industrial revolution - became the head of all cultural changes. And if earlier it was one of the last means in the hands of manufacturers, then already in the 80s it became a natural component of corporate identity and an equal part of culture.

The design of the 80s is, first of all, the Memphis style. Style "Memphis" (and initially the group "Memphis") turned to the development of pop art, kitsch of the 50s, Art Deco, criticized the absurdity of the design of "good taste", in place of which he put freedom creativity. The postmodern era, in which the very pace of fashion change, its dynamism, changeability became fashion, shaped the tasks that the designers of "Memphis" took up.

In 1981, the group was founded by the guru of his time - Etore Sottsass. The group was international and united the works of Italians Michele De Lucca, Alessandro Medini, Andre Branzi, Japanese Shiro Kuramata and Massanori Umeda, as well as Austrian Hans Hollein, American Peter Shire and Spaniard Javier Mariscal. Geographically, she was located in Milan.

The new style immediately began to claim the title of "new international style". Focusing on daily life and in an effort to completely restructure the concept of "classic" dwelling, the Memphis group moved colored laminate from bars, ice cream parlors and other public spaces to residential buildings, postulating thereby sheer anarchy in design. Comics, collages, frames from cult films, elements of punk culture were actively used in the decor.

The entire interior was built according to the principle of chaos. Such tricks served as a metaphor for vulgarity, a game of “ good taste”Were funny, but at the same time attracted and fascinated the viewer. Flashy colors, contrast, paradoxical, asymmetric forms, visual noise are the new expressive means underlying Memphis.

The key word has become the game... Playing with colors, shapes, textures and materials - everything grotesque, balancing between acceptance and marginism. The spectator was also in the game, finding himself in the interior, which represented a playground.

"Playfully" in this way, Sottsass and associates were looking for new expressive means, practical, inexpensive and quality materials, technological solutions. It was a deliberate move away from the production line and the pursuit of high sales and profit growth. And the design message of Memphis was heard: the first clients of Sottsass Associates were such companies as Brionvega, Mandelli, Wella, which meant the appearance of original models of everyday goods.

Most of the group's objects resembled children's toys of huge sizes, which in a chaotic manner filled the space of the premises, acting as signs of emancipation, permissiveness, and mobility of the postmodern era. The sharpness of the gesture, the bold and sometimes even daring play with materials, textures, forms, a complete mixture of styles - all this "Memphis" boldly absorbed and released to the masses. The Memphis style is compared to a kind of slang, which can often be vulgar, indecent, but always expressive and memorable.

In the mid-80s, this style became a noticeable phenomenon in world design. The incredible popularity of the group was the starting point for the development of a "new design", free from the rigid dictatorship of the industry and forced rationalism. Memphis set the style of postmodern design by mixing themes, quoting styles of the past, creating hybrid objects.

Aware of the temporality of his method and the volatility of up / down fashion, Sottsass dismissed the band members when their popularity began to wane. However, the short-term existence of the "Memphis" phenomenon did not affect its importance for the creation of the international design style of postmodernism.

Memphis paved the way for anti-functional trends in European design, which later spread to Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain and formed the "new design". Having its own characteristics in different countries, the common thing was a vivid representation in the subject shaping of fashion trends, voices big city, subcultural features, from which an incredible mish-mash was created, which legibly and clearly spoke about the timeliness of its existence.

Text: Anastasia Tkachenko, specially for D. Magazine

Used materials:

Mikhailov S. History of design. Design of an industrial and post-industrial society. Volume 2. - M., 2003.

Boxing ring, or podium for sitting and lying, Masaroni Umeda, 1981 (Design Museum, London). In the background is a photo of the 1981 band at Tawarayua.

Du Pasquier lamps, Etore Sottsass, Peter Shire

Superlamp, Martine Bedine, 1981

Carlton cabinet, Ettore Sottsass, 1981 (Design Museum, London)

Bookcase, Ettore Sottsass, 1981

Beverly desk, 1981, Ettore Sottsass (Design Museum, London)

Sideboard, Ettore Sottsass, 1982

D`Antibes cabinet, George Souden, 1981 (Design Museum, London)

Installation Hommage commemorating the 30th anniversary of Memphis, created at the Vitra Design Museum in the Buckminster Fuller dome, Weil am Rhein, Germany, 2011