I first discovered the work of the Memphis Group when I visited Milan as a student in the mid-Eighties. Of course, that was the golden age of the Memphis Group and Ettore Sottsass was one of the stalwarts of the movement. So, it seems somehow fitting that the last exhibition that I saw at the Salone was 10 Anni Con Sottsass. Sadly, Sottsass died a little more than a year ago, aged 90, and this poignant exhibition commemorated 10 years of collaboration with the Galleria Clio Calvi Rudi Volpi.
The following quote accompanied the room where these 3 masks were displayed
"Souvenirs"
There are memories and there are 'souvenirs'
A memory is a more or less reliable recollection of something that, good or bad, happened to us; a souvenir is a suggested memory, an invented memory, the reminder of something we may never have seen or something that never happened to us.
Let's imagine that I had never seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a friend brought me a souvenir, an alabaster replica of it. He really did see the Tower and I did not. I have a souvenir. Once I was given a souvenir of transparent glass. If I turned it, snow fell on a wooden Alpine hut. It may have come from the Cortina area.
Now there's the Furniture Show and every one's happy because this show is a very serious thing. There are lots of products, primarily kitchens, tables, sofas, beds, and a great many chairs.
But the last time I visited this show I found no souvenir that could help me remember something I had seen or never saw.
So I designed three souvenirs for friends ....
The following quote accompanied the room where these 3 masks were displayed
"Souvenirs"
There are memories and there are 'souvenirs'
A memory is a more or less reliable recollection of something that, good or bad, happened to us; a souvenir is a suggested memory, an invented memory, the reminder of something we may never have seen or something that never happened to us.
Let's imagine that I had never seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a friend brought me a souvenir, an alabaster replica of it. He really did see the Tower and I did not. I have a souvenir. Once I was given a souvenir of transparent glass. If I turned it, snow fell on a wooden Alpine hut. It may have come from the Cortina area.
Now there's the Furniture Show and every one's happy because this show is a very serious thing. There are lots of products, primarily kitchens, tables, sofas, beds, and a great many chairs.
But the last time I visited this show I found no souvenir that could help me remember something I had seen or never saw.
So I designed three souvenirs for friends ....
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