Ettore Sottsass: Austria's Anti-Design Hero

Ettore Sottsass was proficient in many different fields of artistry, from sculpture, architecture, ceramics and glass works to painting and drawing. Born in Austria in 1917 to an Austrian mother and Italian father, Sottsass spent his youth in fashionable Milan. He then proceeded to gain formal education in architecture – something his father, Ettore Sottsass Sr., a renowned Italian architect, deeply desired.
From childhood, Sottsass greatly enjoyed drawing, quickly sketching things he observed throughout his daily life. Drawing was however, ultimately not enough for him. Sottsass also carried with him a small camera that he used to document everything: doorways, furniture, kitchen sinks. Nothing was irrelevant to Sottsass, as by incessantly documenting everyday mundanity, he was trying to understanding and gather together the pieces that would shape his human-centric vision of design.
Despite tremendous support from his family and a sterling education, Sottsass’s career as an architect was quickly postponed. Shortly after graduating with a degree in architecture, the clutches of World War II descended upon the world and Sottsass soon found himself enlisted in the Italian army, subsequently spending most of the war in a Yugoslavian concentration camp after being taken as a prisoner of war in the Balkans.
After the war concluded, Sottsass moved back to Milan to work in various different roles. He began as a magazine writer before becoming an exhibition curator and eventually opened his own architecture and design practice. Sottsass’ breakthrough came in 1958 however, whilst working with Olivetti, the Italian manufacturer of computers and office machinery. Sottsass – along with his colleagues in Olivetti – won the prestigious Compasso d’Oro prize for the design of Olivetti’s mainframe computer, the Elea 9003.
Continuing his collaboration with Olivetti, Sottsass would continue to impress and left a lasting impression with his landmark design for Olivettis 1969 Valentine typewriter. Its plastic design and bright poppy red color made the machine stand out from the cluster of uniform, gray office equipment common at the time. Sottsass emphasized that when he designed the Valentine typewriter – or any other consumer products – he focused not on the technology of the machine he was working on, but on the psychology of the individual that was going to use it. It is no surprise therefore, that owning a Valentino typewriter soon became a fashion statement in itself, as the machine ascended to the status of pop icon.