ETTORE SOTTSASS | Ceramics

This beautiful book of forms unveils 116 superb color plates, each capturing Sottsass’s inspired ceramic creations.   Each photo is almost like a still life painting, the lighting capturing the essence of the Memphis design founder's sculptural and colorful forms. 

First edition.  Pages are clean, crisp, and like-new. Small scratches on front dust jacket. Larger scratches on back jacket. Dust jacket is also rubbed and has very minor wear to corners. Back board also has small dent. Book in near fine condition. Dust jacket in good - condition. Good ++ or Very good - overall.

“Famed for his extraordinary contribution to almost every area of modern design, the Italian designer Ettore Sottsass has worked extensively throughout his career with ceramics, creating an exciting repertoire of objects that has added to his reputation as perhaps the greatest of living designers.

Conceived and written by Sottsass himself, this book features in outstanding full page colour plates a selection of his inspired ceramic designs, each individually photographed in close-up detail. Taken from all periods of his career, dating from the 1950s to the 1990s, these imaginative objects are ingenious in their simplicity: strong in colour and line, they are striking in visual impact; diverse in shape and size, they embrace forms both decorative and functional.

Dividing his work into eleven chronological episodes, from the Ceramics of Darkness produced in the late 1950s and the Pop Ceramics of the 1960s, to the Ruins of the 1990s, Sottsass introduces each section with notes that he has kept throughout his career. Reflective and often poetic, his text outlines the ideas that lie at the root of his creativity, and the diverse influences that have shaped his designs - from oriental glazing traditions to Indian philosophy.

Ettore Soltsass: Ceramics is a unique view into a remarkable creative mind. It is also a memorable visual document of some of the finest ceramics of the twentieth century, a book that will be of lasting interest to ceramicists, artists, designers and collectors." - from the dust jacket flap

9.75 x 12 inches
179 pages
Printed in Italy