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From March 19 - May 14, 2025, New York-based Galerie56, in collaboration with Friedman Benda, presents a curated selection of ceramic and furniture designs from the ouevre of celebrated Italian architect and product designer Ettore Sottsass. In a unique discourse between architectural vision and design mastery, Et Tu, Ettore is conceived as an 'intimate approach' to the master's works, presented through a distinct structural and introspective lens. For the show, Lee F. Mindel, FAIA, and founder and principal of Galerie56, "offers an architect's examination of another architect's creative output", per the exhibition’s literature.
The showcased works in Et Tu, Ettore range in medium as well as time periods, "acting as a survey of Sottsass' creative output. This includes rarely seen examples of his early ceramic prototypes made in the 1960s from Sottsass' personal collection, two of his iconic totems and works from his Geology series produced in the early 2000s. The latter pieces in particular possess a potent kinship to the architecture of Galerie56 itself," the press release mentions.
A seminal figure in 20th century design, Sottsass forged a path that defied the austere confines of modernism. Born in 1917 and educated in the rigorous traditions of Turin's architectural school, his career encompassed disciplines from architecture and industrial design to fine arts. His creative philosophy of synthesising modernist abstraction with the evocative forms of ancient cultures continues to inspire contemporary designers worldwide.
The celebrated Italian designer's creative process was one of relentless exploration: from the meticulous crafting of his early ceramic design experiments, as noted by Fulvio Ferarri in the publication, Ettore Sottsass: Tutta La Ceramica, to his prescient designs for Olivetti's iconic office products and later on, his reimagined works in the stacked, symmetric Geology series. In his later years, Sottsass embraced rarefied materials, employing glass, wood and metal to create monumental yet playful installations that remain a vibrant testament to his innovative spirit.
The collaborative design exhibition unfolds as a journey into the whimsical yet calculated realms of the Austria-born creative's mind. Early ceramic prototypes from the 1960s, for instance, the Prototype for Il Sestante Vase—rendered in bold black and white variations—stand side by side with his iconic totems and vibrant ceramic columns of Odalisca. Each product design manifests a fragment of Sottsass' innovation with form and function, transforming the exhibition space into a vibrant reenactment of his prolific design legacy.
Et Tu, Ettore is a persuasive homage to and an encounter with a visionary whose works continue to resonate across the realm of contemporary design. Through a close architectural and design examination, Sottsass' sculptural designs are set to reaffirm his enduring influence, challenging viewers to reconsider the dialogue between function, form and the artistry of everyday life.
"Through these diverse activities, Sottsass established a distinctive and expansive design vocabulary, composed of seeming oppositions up until his death. His work is extraordinarily deep in its cultural references, yet delighted in a beguiling play of surfaces. Sottsass' abstractions had latent anthropomorphism; his forms are both playful and monumental. The dialectical complexity of his thought—grounded in the idea that design can have a remarkable range of expression—was revolutionary," the press release reiterates.
'Et Tu, Ettore', the collaborative exhibition by Galerie56 and Friedman Benda is on view from March 19 – May 14, 2025, at Galerie56, 240 Church Street, New York.
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