Above: Ettore Sottsass at the retrospective held in his honor at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2006. By ROBIN J. POGREBIN January 1, 2008, New York Times Obituary
Ettore Sottsass, an éminence grise of postmodern design who helped found the influential Memphis Group and was responsible for the familiar bright red plastic Olivetti typewriter, died Monday at his home in Milan. He was 90.
His death was confirmed by Francesco Rutelli, the Italian culture and tourism minister.
Although trained and active as an architect, Mr. Sottsass secured a permanent place in pop culture with his designs of everyday items, including office cabinets, table lamps, ice buckets and silverware.
“He was truly a giant of design,” said Paola Antonelli, the senior curator in the Museum of Modern Art’s department of architecture and design. “He had a capacity to really feel the times that he was living in and to change with them.”.... Read the complete new York Times Obituary here.
A few of the items Ettore Sottsass introduced to our world:
Above: one of Ettore's more familiar designs for Alessi, 1987
Some people shelled out some serious dough for their favorite collectibles this past year. Here are just a few of the record-breaking auctions from 2007.
There are about 20 in the world, but only two outside Britain. The new owner immediately arranged for it to go back on view at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It was last sold in 1983 by an English family and bought by Ross Perot, who had also placed it on display.
4. A Hertford jewel cabinet from England sold for $3,176,000. John Webb, Hertford jewel cabinet, commissioned by John Rutter in Paris for the 4th Marquess of Hertford, 1855–1857, sold for $3,176,000, establishing a new record for Nineteenth Century furniture.
5. The rare Honus Wagner 1909-1911 T206 baseball card went for $2,350,000. The Mona Lisa of all trading cards was put up for auction Feb. 27, 2007 and sold for an unprecedented $2.35 million. The T206 Honus Wagner is recognized by collectors and industry experts as the most famous and valuable baseball card in existence.The card was purchased by a private California sports collector.
One of the famous error stamps, the "Jenny," a 1918 24-cent stamp showing an upside-down biplane, was sold privately to a Wall Street executive for $825,000. It seems like a bargain. The buyer had tried to buy another of the "Inverted Jenny" stamps a month earlier, but it sold to another collector for $977,500.
9. Vacheron Watch Sets Record For Christie's Watches sold well; one of the highest was a vintage 18k pink gold Vacheron Constantine wristwatch with the complications of minute repeating, triple calendar and phases of the moon that brought $457,000.
Publisher: MARVEL Condition: CGC 9.4 NM Census Rank: 2nd Highest CGC Graded Page Quality: Off-White to White Pages Type of Holder: Universal Degree Of Restoration: Unrestored Pedigree or Highlight: WHITE MOUNTAIN PEDIGREE Item description: 1962, 1st Spider-Man and Original Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko art.
World's first electric typewriter, the »Blick Electric« from 1902, (Lot 172) – invented by the world famous American Charles Blickensderfer, Stamford, CT – as part of the 1st Session of auctioning off the traditional »Remington Typewriter Museum« from the OHA-Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, NY – made an absolute world record price of $ 100,000 (Euro 67,600) at world's leading specialty auction of AUCTION TEAM BREKER in Cologne, Germany.
