A rare coffee table by Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007), emblematic of post-war design (circa 1947), will be auctioned on November 19th.

Ettore Sottsass drew his inspiration from a stay in America, an experience that had a profound effect on his work, where he discovered industrial design, Pop Art and consumer society. In the 1980s, Sottsass founded the Memphis Group, whose bold, colourful creations would become emblematic of Italian Design.

This table is a perfect blend of tradition and modernity. Ettore Sottsass chose Italian materials, in direct reference to classical antiquity: oak wood and polychrome marble with which he inscribed the letters ‘IT’ for Italy. The designer has created a bold combination of a common material and a noble one. Turin cabinet-makers Francesco Apelli and Lorenzo Varesio were commissioned to produce the table in a very limited number of pieces.

A selection of ceiling and wall lights designed by the Milanese architecture studio B.B.P.R. (1932-1969), named after its four founders, will also be on sale. These models are part of a series conceived by B.B.P.R. in 1962, based on ceiling lights model 3055 designed by Gino Sarfatti, which the group then adapted to its own vision. It is probably the first example of appropriation in the history of design, a resolutely postmodern approach.

At the start of their careers, the four founders - Gian Luigi Banfi, Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso, Enrico Peressutti and Ernesto Nathan Rogers - were close to the rationalist movement, which advocated functional, uncluttered architecture. After the war, they adopted a ‘brutalist’ style, reflected in their most famous work: the Torre Velasca, a monumental tower 106 meters high built in Milan in 1958.

The Italian Design auction on November 19th is a unique opportunity to discover these highly sought-after pieces, such as the important ceiling lamp mod. 2045/b.

anda Vigo (1936-2020) is a key figure in twentieth-century Italian design, renowned for her visionary work on light and interior space.

In 1959, Nanda Vigo opened her studio in Milan and joined the Italian avant-garde as a member of the ZERO group, a radical artistic movement that aspired to break with all previous creations. In 1964, she launched her ‘Cronotopy’ line of furniture, centered on her research into space, time and light.

This series will remain her most emblematic work, along with the Cronotopo sideboard (circa 1973) in which several glass panels are superimposed. 
Five others of his landmark creations will be on sale, including the Light Tree in wall and floor versions, which illustrates his sculptural mastery of light.