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Contents

A is for Authentic ............ .t K is for Kitchen 259

B is for Bauhaus 21 KisforKrier ......... 267
B islot Bluepint . 41 L is for Logo ... ....... 241
C is lor Car . ... 61 M is for lManilesto 289
75 ll, is for Museum 305
C is for Chareau a9 N is for National ldentity 319
C is for Collecting O is for Ornament
C is for Critical Design 121 Pisfor Postmodern ....... 347
D is for Design 137 O is for OWERTY . 363
D is for Design Art . .. .... 151 R is for Rams 377
E is for Expo .......
S is for Slum ............ .. .. 3a7
F is for Fashion 179 S is for Sottsass ..... 403
F is for Film 187 T is tor Taste 417
F is {or Function 197 U is for Utzon 427
GislotG'andTheftAuto .. 211 . 437
H is for Habitat ............... 219 W is forwar .443
I is for lmperfect 229 X is for Xerox
I is forJim Nature 239
J is for Jumbo 245
K is for Kaplichi 253
 5 is FoR

shape rheir own futxres: political powcr rests wirlr rhe statcs
and the cenlral govemment in New Delhi.
Is the.e any reat dlfcrence in our und€rstanding,
as supposedb' objectn'c observers" of the asonizlng fauli
lines betwcen the glitLcring, gold_plated, chalTeur'driven
luxury olMumbai's p.ospcrous cLasscs and the degradation
all around n, and those lrho see il cveryday and bllthelv
ignore it?
Just because London is eleven hours in a Boemg
away irom Dharavi, and I can ro longer see it or smcil it,
cven as I feel thc soot still in ny hair fron rhe potters' kilns.
do.' no' I ed, \r, I rn.'"y le.' a tJr ol '1, rme u|i'
versc. \tumbai is, as onc Mefopolitan Police comman<]er
obscrvcd bv his definition, onc of the marke$ that define
London's boundaries.
\Vhat ifanything do I, and any ofthe othef urban'
lsts $'ho come to scc Dharavi in such numben, have to olter
such a ciiy? Does our analysis really havc any purpose?
\i,.,.ndo erpr t\J Fw'.wh. x=he"nS or'o.:'l
thar is continually demolishing housing that far surpasscs
anything tha! Munbai's slun dwellefs could 've' dream
or, simply because nobody wanrs to live in it. Do we have
any buslnc,s being here at all? It\ Possible to take comfo
from Suketu Mchta and his words that, lf only bccause
miny of tlie neaL generation of Londone$ are being born
iD Mumbai, it's important for this gen€ration ofLondoners
ro know a, rnuch about Mumbai as ve can.
 , !o troE
If nodern design had its bcginnings in Britain at around
the time of the Industrjal Revolution, wilh William Mords
and Christopher Dresser, and was codifi€d in Gernany
by thc Bauhaus, it ll,as Italy that redefined it in rhe 1960s
Modernily in the hands of the Germans was d.tcrmined
to be sober and auste.e. Thc Italians gavc it a more seduc
tive flavour, with tactile finishes, shiny plastic and satur
ated colours. W€ knew that Peter Behrens's electric k rtle
forAEG was important. So was thc work tha he Bauhaus
team did. But it was bright yellow adding machines in
moulded plastic made by Olivetti and shiny lipstick-red
plastic furnifirre made by Kartcll that welc the obje.ts we
actually l{anted to o\!n.
Italy vas the last ofthe big European states to mod_
ernize itself andjoin thc industrial economy, a process that
wa, stilltaking placeireLl into the 1950s The transtbrmation
of fie economy dcpended on a number or entrePrcncurs,
from Giovanni Agnclli to Adriano Olivetti, nith dynasli.,
even narion building, ambitions, and their work wirh an ex'
ceptional group of designers, including Gid Ponti, Achille
Castiglioni, \'ico Magistretti, Marco Zanuso, Jo€ Colonbo,
Ettore Sottsass and Mario B€llini. New factories and ncw
technologies, coupled with what at first werc low-wage
costsi gav€ Italy the chancc to find marLcts for iLs products'
much in the way that China did half a century lat€r' In 1972,
No{ Yorks Museum of Mod€rn tut marked the distinctive
contriburion ofthis group of designers $'ith one of the most
ambitious exhibitions on dcsign that it had ev€r attempted,
Ildry: the Ndl, Domenic Landtcape. k Nas the moment that
444
aaEEgLqa
saw Itaiy nake the shift fron f.inge to cenrrc srage. k 1'ai
naking the weather, as Japan was to do h fashlon in
'he
1980s, and as we can confidenrly expe.r that Clina $ili do
rn the very near future.
In rcrrospect, though perhnps ir did nor look tjkc jr
at the timc, Lhe two kcy designem rcpresentcd in the trIotl \
exhibition were Mario Bellini and Ettore Sottsass. Th€r
both hained as archiLects, iheyborh worked wlth their ow
studio within the Ollvetri organizarion, and as independenr
consL tants. While Bellinit work defined a .orain gtossr
losion of the Italian design language, Sotrsass had a nore
cohpl.x positlon, working borh wirhin Lhe indust.jal niatn-
n.eam ancl outsidc it. Sottsass's long lile reflected and ittu
4 arcd the makingofnodern ILal,v
He was bom in lnnsbruck jn 1917, on the wrong
sjde of thc battlefront between Italy and Ausrro.Hungar
:hat a'as Lo redefine borh countries in thc First \,fo.ld \\a.
His parcnts spokc cernan as readil,v as Iralian. Edu.ared
:I. his father, as an architect, So sass woikcd wirh hj and
:heD in his ovn studio in'[urin, before serting up i]i llitan
:o begin dcsigning domcstic objects, lighting, glass(ar.
:id fumiture destincd ro be nrde in tinynunbcrs.
As an architecture student at Turin PolItechnic. h€
as a busy set dcsigne. for rhe studcnt rheare compan\: a!
:.complished arList, and a nembd of the Fascist sruderr
'rrth movement. He kept his nenberslip card, along
:::h almost everytliing that had sen'ed to measurc his liie
:-.ough every phasc. Ir is housed in a filing cabine! in rh.
:r:rtment in thc Via Ponta..io in Milan shere he once
4OZ
 t l, troE
livcd, bur which h. tume<l into his archive while hc was
sLill alivc.
During Se.ond World Wat Sottsass was a xeu-
Lhe
tenant in oie of the eljrc Alpini rcgiments rhal Mussolini
sent to invade Montenegro as part of Italian Fascism's inept
attempi ai imperialism. Sick leavc l<cpt him awa], lion rhc
barra.ks and stopped hin fron beingdispatched to Albania
ro takc part in thc iDvasion of Greece along with the rest ol'
the divislon- A few months later, he $'as even niorc fortunatc
to miss a troop train to rhc Soviet Union, to take pari in a
,., , pJ'rr I om w ,:i h vrry '' " lr IJ ,' r.rL|ed.
\o, rJ, bcC, I q,on ng *\Fn 1,. w.. a, p-inr^
school. I:Ie drc(' in cxercise books and noLcpads, aid on
randon sffaps ol papcr He drew on the ba.k of recycled
printeis oFcuts, and or old siationery He carefully filed all
ofthem awa,v, along with his eio.isc books, his passporLs.
his photographi. ncgativesi aid even his father's s.hool
r€ports fron his days as an architecture stlldcnt in\rienna.
su ..a,.. dird ng .rom ,l'r sJr v.J s ir.
Montenegro reveal his ovcNhching fascinaLion wnh
.olou.and tonc. He used wa tercoloum to rccord in exquisitc
detailthe textlle paltcnN thathe saa'in handwoven carPets.
There is an even morc renarkable dnwingthal hc cxecuted
during the var ir black lnk, in \rhich he patiently records
ln carcfully choscn words the scorc or more ofcoloum that
were used nr a peasant voman's shoulder bag. His diarles,
written much latcr, record his experiences in that terribl€
$'ar, !'irh iis futile bloodshed and its inevitablc betray
als. Here w€re lh. Italians, invaders of the Adrlatic coasi
1aa
AQE'eOt\qq
oppositc their own homes, rnany ofwhom found ihcmseh ei
sding with thcir own victims, against their fonn.r c€rma!
allies. He desfibes the Se.b and Monrenegrin loveE he
had, seeningly obtivious ofirhat rhe consequences ofbeinS
scen wiLh an Italian of6cer in unlfo.m woutcl havc been
Half a .entury later, Sorisass was srill preoccupicd
\rith cotour in jusr as viscerat a way as h. had bcetr as a
loung man i.
Monrenegro du.ing rhe wai Janes tnine
an English designer who vork.d wlth hin in his studio nr
\,Iilan, remenbers Sotisass descrjbing a cotour he wanrcd
use ror a project asbcinglike the colour oIa drcss rhar his
'o
firsr wife, Nanda Pivano, had worn for a parly years befo.e
Sottsass asked INine ro go to hcr apartftenr ro ask if she
nill had it, and if so to borrow it so rhey woutd have thc
ietercnce they needed.
Intcrned in Yugoslavia by the Nazis whe. kaly.a-
Ditulated, and faced wirh the choicc of prito. or co abo.
,tlon, joincd the Montoosa diviston of rhe ned'
Sottsass
:ormed army of Mussolini: nmp state, the Sald Rcpubtic.
It s'as a decision that was to ovenhado\r drc carll, years
r1 his post{ar career. Long afte^{ards, hc recalied being
Cenoun.cd as a fascisr in rhe lobby of the Milan TrieDnale
truilding, b]' anothcr designer who had had rhe tuxury of a
.:s tfaumatic expcrlence ofwar
In ihc posr i\ar pcriod ol kaljan reconsiNcLionl
. .o.rfou d\insrlf\v^l.r-go.,u,iJt ror .i gr,-.,,.
,:niallv in partnership with his farher, bur also designirtg
;=all do'nestic obj.cls on lis own. He moved from 'lirin
lAV
 a Na va9
to Milan, a city thaL was rapidly establishing itself as the
Italian capital of design. Pivano was a lircrary translato!
who gave hcr husband a perspcctive beyond rh. world of
design, and Ital). She worked with llemingvay, and wnh
the American beat poets, and much later translat€d Brct
Easton Ellis. Sottsass phoiognphed hinself and Pivano
in Cortim, in Venice and in Cuba. He wcnt to Nev Yotk
with her, and for a brief poiod worked in the office of the
leading Aneri.an industrial d€signcr George Nelson, giling
Sottsass a transatlantic cachet that hclPed him secure Lhc
first of his commissions tuom Olivetti in 1959. Astonishingl],,
ir was to give form to a mainframe compuLcr, the first that
Italy had evcr built. With no previoxs expcricncc of any
kind in the worlcl ofdata processing, Sottsass moved hom
working on decorarive fruit baskets Lo a giant compute!
which he sketched for lhc first time on the back ofone of the
layout shccts for 1rlrrrli,?l ,"J;gz nagazine, the US publi_
cation he had norked on for Nelson. But it i\,as perhaps no
more ofa leap than the shift taken by rhe Notuegian arList
Jean Heiberg, rvho moved from learning to paint in Henri
Matissc: studio to shaping thc definitiv€ form ofthe twen_
iieth-century lclephone for Siemcns in BakeliLc
The Elea 9003 was the firs!, and almost the last,
Italian mademainframc.omputer Mario Tchou led a team of
enginccrs who dflised an all.transistor machine for Olivetti
dmt was intendcd toconpetewith the best American, British
and French nanufacturers. Sottsass's roic was to give the
ILalian machine a disLinctive identiqr Thc name with which
they christencd the compuler said a lot about hov Olivetti
60EEqAAA
sawitsclf. Eleawas G.cckciLy state on the ItalLan
a oai.-:
with its o\rn school ofpre-Socratic philosopht
Sottsa$ made sonerhing of a breaktluough I
.onceiving of a computer as a collection of jndnjdxal
hanagcabl€ parts, to bc slotred togerher as necded ro bri
the rcquired capacity. He treared rhe computff as ifjr (e
a picce of po able furnjture. Ir had no s.rcen. and a c2
acity of les than one million alphanunffic chancrffs. .,
cnough to
accommodare a complere Tolstov noret Ti
Elea sprouted cables at high level rather rhan demancri
a raiscd floor to conceal them as its compctioE did. Ti
arrangement made it easier to insrall, and it suggeyed ii
'r. Flra ud,Ja obF,rra,hF rhJnrn i,regJt p. ..
building in which itvas houscd.
'What should a.onputer look like?' Sot!sass a!\e
hunsclf when hc started lrork on the prcjccr. '\or iiic
!ashing ma.hine,'h€ More on a shccr ofpaper drar ir .o
-iresen'ed in the University ofParma's archives
'rhe Elea was thc siz€ of a livjng roon. bri
nis designed so that its op€rators, who tendcd ir in a:
.ondilioned sterility, w€re not made ro fecl as if iher h:
, 'wJlou,d rp br d mJ, h.rr. And In rl ,.rc I r.. .
'"- inoividrJl. ior..J,. JoLl.d J ',p ng to ,ne , - , ...
^
:ralities of desi$. The keyboard for the Elea 9003 seem.
' ioInrn:rdr(,hJr yoLw.n n or, h with.o |, rh "q.:
:orrant and momentous. This was the portal to rhe fuiul
. d c^.r.".. m,d. r' lool rfe pa , hv \e, Ir'e n.. . .:
:risc,ous mcmory tbr the visual clues suggcsred b! sacie
: r'ecrs through rhe ages.
las
 A Eg EAB
Ectuaily signifi.ant at a landmark for lialiar
design s'as rhe \ralentire, a portablc tvpewfiter dcsigncd bY
Sotssss $'ith terr)' King fof Olivetti, an oblcd that us'd a
bright red piastic bod)', contrasied uiLh rwo vivid splashcs
oforange on Lhe twh fibbon spools, to nakc whaL had Pre_
viousl)' been undeFtood as a mundane piecc or business
eq uipmcnr to a personal possession Everyihing about the
in
clesign was askilg us to rlnde$rand OlivetLi's producLs in a
ditrercnt vay. Soltsass made the breakthrough of giling a
pfoduct category associated wiLh office ro!tine a domestLc,
plalful qualiry - tilough its molrlded plastic bodv and its
vivid rc.l colour schene Thc Valentine rePrcseDred on' cnd
of Sottsass's approach For more conventionnl ofli':e ma
clines, such as the TckDe clecrric type$'ritet hc prefefed a
lcss cxprcssnc aesthe!lc vocabularyr 'WhcDyou havc sevcral
hundrcd nachincs in an office, you donl nant thcm all
clnwing attention to rhemsclves as individual objectt lhey
should work iogethcr ir an architectLfa] wav,' h' said
For tlto decadcs,lvhen iL was 11ill a finlly_run bus!
ness, Sousass rcnained .losely associated with Oh'ctti ancl
his studjo.deslgnccl rypewriters, office furniture, adding
nachincs an.l accessories Thcy seNed to delinc the idea of
nodcn ofiice cquipncni for a while. But Olivetti was nevo
rble Lo fulh adlust to thc digital world; and thi! r.lucrancc
io adaPt to cha ngc even tually desro)'ed thc comPany lt had
gro$'n on $c strength of the abilitv ofits enginccrs to make
nechanisms rhat drovc adding machiDes, calculators and
t-vpeuritcrs, skills ihar wcrc raPidll' beconing redunclant
Sotrsass always maintaincd a presence bcvord
4to
aaEEaLaz
OlilerLl, ln his own studio, cxplofnrg norc personar ,cr
01 what dcsign nighr bc. Whcn, in rhe 19ll0s, rhe lI.!lrl
movenent cxploded the con\rntional idea of ! har pr::
f. on,,.pu,Jr or.ig. \o,..'.,. d o!, i :.
Scnius, had alread)' qnaljlicd for his penslo.. Bur fa! :(
gi!i1!gup, Soitsass was enrbarLi.gon whar nrrncd our:o
the host suc.cssful and creative pe.iod in a carc.r rh:i :
al.cady been c!.ep1io.al.
Aquartcrofa centurylater inr007, Sot!sass. a gi:
figure rvith rhe sacl cycs of a bloodhound and a caft-
ri.d pigtail, cclcbrared his riietie birthda)! srill acif,
;till a'orking with a studlo in Miian, and still gcndr ac.:.
'Gfertness' is die most overused wo ririr
'| ,. o d"* ihi, b. .,, r. B-r \vi,\ sor . ... I i. no
.-ss thar his due. ft lras Sortsass, and a ftw others. iorr.
\.hille Castiglioni, \{ho showed horv contcnporan dr::
:.uld go bcyond the utilitarlan, or the cynically ha.b:
::!e ancl bccone a gen!tue fonn ofcultural elpression B
:o(sass w2! also able to makc thc mosr frorn conreDrpo=
::odn.tion. It vas this combinarlon of a raste for i.,::
'. rblil ro"ol. r' \erd.raidi ,
'{
> {cass apart. He was rcad). to engage irith thc p.as-:.:
::-^day problens ofworking lifc in an offi.c. Bnr h. n
r :o absorbcd b)' the expfcssivc qraljrics ofobtecrs
To nove fron rhc wofld oI rh. Ollver(i facroa
::. delibcrately traDsgfcssive assarlL on.orvenrional gri
::.:e of the Mcmphis novene.t rhar SolNass fou::G
-::hr sccrn like a huge tuFarcund. Bxr in lacr Lhr..:!
. un.i,
" , y ,t roug\o. I
4na
 , !o troE
The spirit ofhis ceranlcs and glasswarc tuom the 1950s was
still evident in the work coming out of the studio almost
until the time ofhis death. And ir is in thls qualiry as rnuch
as in Sotrsass's ability to operate within an industrial worl<l
but no! 1l) bc consumed by it, that his greatness lies. Sottsass
sav too much oflife to be dcluded by thc shint oPtinism of
a glossy surfacc. And yet he knew how Lo make som€thng
brrL,i.u. ou..,hF.JLl 1e*'rJ,' one' or.\pF. ie.' e
Irom the 1960s onward, Sottsass had a continurng
interes! in the counteF.ulture. He was in California at the
time of Tlmothy Lea.y and Allen Ginsberg, and in lnclia
wr rn,.r WF.r b gJ u look In, r rFr r. riv.' ro:.. u$ n, nn'
vcntional materialistic values. IIc worked with Alessandro
Mcndini as ari dlrcctor for ,rnlr nagazinc, steering it
away lrom the complaccncy of Italian good taste, and to_
gether they crystallized this sensibility in design in the
Studio Alchimia collections.
Later, Alchimia was eclipscd by SotLsass's o$n cre_
ation of thc Memphis movement, with which hc brought
togetter a group of young Italians, pdnclPally Mi.hele
Dc Lucchi and Aldo Cibic, and an jnternational group of
postmodcrnists, including Michacl Gmves, Shifo KuEnata
and Hans Llollein, in a move that made up tn tmpact what
itlacked in acsthetic consistency. Mcnphjs looL.d like a
fusion of lijgh art vith popular cultuie, a deliberate attack
on convcntional idcas of good raste. The name Memphis
vas variously exPlained by Sottsass as a r€fcrcn.e ro a Bob
DylaD track, to Elvis, and to Ancienr E$?t lrony and a
gently subversive approach to dcsign was combined lvith a :.:na.kablc career that he made this dlsrincrio! x,cLcL trr
4da
aaEEaLqo
hlghly dccorative approach ro coiourand parrdn. Th. rr
colours andpatterncd laninates came parrly fron Sorr::i,
own imaginarion, and pardy from his rediscoven ofrle :
nocence and optimism of thc carly days of lralian roc..
isn in thc 1950s, which by rhe 1980s was only !o be io!:
lingering in faded.oree bars in rhe suburbs ofllilan. Ei(
for those irho vcre unnoved by irs acsrh.tic vocabu:-!
Menphis had a conviction aod excitcmenL lha{ couro :
Menphis vas a ioyous, un bo$y rna.ifesro il
desjgn as an emotional expressjon. Ir was also an arr.rl
ro bite th€ hand that fed ir by genrly saLirizirg rhe na.rfa
r.i g .\srem. De,ign i'. in ,hr , nd. .,borr aoir o) .. .l
Io buy morc things, and Sottsass, at heart ahra\ s d.e.
sublersivc, was lighly ambivalerr abour rhar. He burl:
5enes orextraordinary houses, including onc fo. hn d.;re
Entst Mounnans, in Belgium. I rcrnembe. a $.eki:
rhcre when I was editing rrnrr. SoLtsass wanrcd ro s.:
published. Why don't )-ou ask H€lnut Newron to iate ra
Dhotographs?'Newton was betond the magazine s bui!-.
,. h..Jne Jnfr.rv.. d he.r o men -p, n, ., F r n.- !-, -.
,
:parring for dominance in a house built around an a1!::
3r Mourmans rare birds.
Wc live ln a vorld which vallres rhe uselcss anc!c.
:he usefui, which celebmtes art, untainted bv rhc leai i::
il uijlity, above rhe ingcnuit), of desig! rhat is bu.de!.
..! ftrnction, and crcates a culural hierarchy to narch.
r'rs pe.haps thc greatest achievement ofSottsasts long a.
4na
 t 00 tro E aaEEaLqa

He was nor interested in maklng objccts that sell because Sottsasis geDeration cast a long shadow over Imt\l
thcy look pretty or seductive or precious. ffiai hc wantecl Many of thcm lived and worked into rhcir eighties. The\
io do $,as to find ways of giving everyday objects somc sort left litde roon for thc generarion rhat fotloi{ed rhem. Mitan
ofmeaning. IIe wanred to show that they ar€ notjust banal remaincd a global centre for dcsign, but ir vas a ciLy rhar
cluiterbutare shap€d by creative intcllig.nce and an under_ depend€d more and more on designers from oursidc Itat\l
siandirg both ofhow they are used and how rhey are made
Throughout his life, Sottsass managed lo pursue
tvo parallel caree$. A! the same tin€ that he was !'orking
on the nass-procluced, trying to give sorne scnse ofdignjty
to the mundan€, he was also $earing cerani.s and glass,
and limited edition furniture pieces Lhai had the emotional

The design world hasbecome fixatedbyyouth, and

by the mer.ilcs pureuit of the ncxt big thing. But age had no
effect on Sottsass. \ /ith the English designer Chris Redfem,
hewas still running an active ofllce engaged in deativ. work
right up until the end ofhis life in Decembcr 2007-
Sonsrss, Ike his hthe4 also callcd Ettore, saw
himselffirsL and forcmost as an architecl. .llmost all ltaiian
designe$ rained as architects in Sottsass: day, and too many
of them want to go back to desrgning buildings, even though
they are manifesrly better olf sticking to the scale of cudcry
ard chairs. Sottsass Ms an e*ception in that hc was gihed
as an architect, even thorgh he r€mained outside the nain_
strcam. He kmw everybody, and worked cveryvhere He built
an apadmcnt in th. unlikely setting of the Albany in London
for Jean Pigozzi, rhc celebrity photograPhet .ollc.tor and
entrcpreneuf, At the other end of the s.ale he designed a golf
resort for rhe People: LiberationAlrny in China.