Memphis: The New International Style

When I arrived in London for graduate school in the early 1980s, a radical new design movement coming out of Italy was the Memphis Design collective from Milano. Ettore Sottsass and a group of furniture, ceramic, print, industrial products, and architectural designers inspired by the Radical Design of Italy in the 1960s were joined by Andrea Branzi one of the leaders from the earlier movement.

The Memphis Group formed in 1981 included Martine Bedin, Andrea Branzi, Aldo Cibic, Michele de Lucchi, Nathalie du Pasquier, American-born architect Michael Graves, Viennese designer Hans Hollein, Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, Japanese designer Shiro Kuromata, Italian product designer Matteo Thun, Spanish artist and designer Javier Mariscal, British industrial designer George Sowden, Marco Zanini, the journalist Barbara Radice in addition to Sottsass.

Sottsass called Memphis "The New International Style" which we took to have a hint of irony since the international style we were seeing all over in Eastern Europe from Yugoslavia and East Germany to the Soviet Union was utilitarian hard, cold steel and glass boxes and redundantly large with gray humorless severity. Meanwhile Memphis screamed with cartoon wavy lines, lyrical patterns, neon glow, and bright primary colors.

Memphis' most memorable pieces on show were the the Carlton Cabinet (left) and the Dublin sofa that popped vibrant in contrast to the stern minimalism in design had become the norm. Memphis' use of industrial materials – printed glass, tortoiseshell luminance, leopard print fibers, celluloids, fireflake finishes, neon tubes and zinc-plated sheet-metals – jazzed up with flamboyant colors and patterns, spangles and glitter followed Branzi's ideas about "exalt everything kitsch and pop" in the 1960s to break from old European traditions.

Writers and critics accused Branzi and the other Memphis designers of having too much fun and folly with design, not practical to the real world but Sottsass shot back explaining that Memphis design was serious while doing industrial design for Olivetti or other Italian manufacturers was all play.

Viewing Memphis designers you can easily see the influence of 60s and 70s pop artists Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Dazzle panel artist John McHale, optical artists Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely as well as commercially designed objects like film projectors, aero-dynamic kitchen appliances, jukeboxes, gramophones and comic book illustration. Memphis brought high art values and pop art fantasy into industrial and commercial design.

An exhibition at Boilerhouse, Victoria & Albert Museum, London brought Memphis to the forefront of European design and crowds stood in line for hours to see this new Milan based design group. The Memphis designers were like rock stars with design groupies anxious to jump on their every word. Memphis disbanded in 1988 but members of its group continue to have influence world-wide in a variety of design fields.