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Ettore Sottsass was born in Innsbruck in 1917, and graduated in architecture from Turin Polytechnic in 1939.
In 1947 he opened his own studio in Milan and worked on various projects as an architect and designer.
His design work was always combined with cultural initiatives. Several times he participated in the Milan Triennale, and he displayed his work at countless national and international group and individual exhibitions. He played a key role in advancing and developing the role of design both before and after WW2. In 1958 he joined Olivetti as a design consultant. His many designs included that for Italy's first electronic calculator in 1959. This was followed later by many peripheral and calculating systems and typewriters, such as Praxis, Tekne, Editor and Valentine - with the latter later being put on permanent display in the New York Museum of Modern Art.
After giving a series of lectures at several British universities in 1976, he was given an Honorary Doctorate by the London Royal College of Art.
In 1981 he and several co-workers, friends, and internationally renowned architects established the Memphis Group, which soon became the flagship for‚ New Design’ and was something of a trailblazer for the artistic avant-garde of this era. In the same year he founded the studio of Sottsass Associati, where he continued his career as an architect and designer.
Major museums all over the world, including New York, Paris, Sydney, Denver, Stockholm, London, San Francisco, Toronto, Jerusalem and Barcelona, have works by Ettore Sottsass in their permanent exhibitions.
Ettore Sottsass has received numerous awards and decorations, including the title of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres de la République Française, presented to him in 1992, as well as an honorary degree from America's Rhode Island School of Design (1993), the IF Design Award of Industry Forum Design Hanover (1994), an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London, the Design Award from New York's Brooklyn Museum (1996), the Oribe Award from the Japanese city of Gifu (1997), an honorary doctorate from the Glasgow School of Art (1999), an honorary degree from the London Institute of Art, and an honorary degree in industrial design from the Milan Polytechnic. He was also appointed Grande Ufficiale per l’ Ordine al Merito by the President of the Republic of Italy in 2001.
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