Ettore Sottsass Quotes

• When I was young, all we ever heard about was functionalism, functionalism, functionalism. It’s not enough. Design should also be sensual and exciting.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Design, Sensual, Enough

  72 Copy quote

• Decoration can be a state of mind, an unusual perception, a ritual whisper.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Design, Perception, Mind

  Ettore Sottsass, Barbara Radice (1988). “Design metaphors”, Rizzoli International Publications

  37 Copy quote

• When I began designing machines I also began to think that these objects, which sit next to each other and around people, can influence not only physical conditions but also emotions. They can touch the nerves, the blood, the muscles, the eyes and the moods of people.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Eye, Thinking, Blood

  Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass (1993). “Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography”, Rizzoli International Publications

  46 Copy quote

• Be patient, calm, compassionate. Know that existence is fleeting.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Fleeting, Calm, Patient

  34 Copy quote

• I make no special difference between architecture and design, they are two different stages of invention.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Two, Differences, Design

  Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass (1993). “Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography”, Rizzoli International Publications

  73 Copy quote

• It is important to realize that whatever we do or design has iconographic references, it comes from somewhere; any form is always metaphorical, never totally metaphysical; it is never a 'destiny' but always a fact with some kind of historical reference. To put an object on a base means to monumentalize it, to make everyone aware it exists.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Mean, Destiny, Design

  Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass (1993). “Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography”, Rizzoli International Publications

  60 Copy quote

• A chair must be really important as an object, because my mother always told me to offer my chair to a lady

  Ettore Sottsass

  Mother, Important, Chairs

  52 Copy quote

• My furniture is an exercise in architecture or architectural mood.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Exercise, Design, Furniture

  Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass (1993). “Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography”, Rizzoli International Publications

  60 Copy quote

• If you think you're meeting your destiny on the other side of a door you may not be interested in its design.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Destiny, Thinking, Doors

  Ettore Sottsass, Barbara Radice (1988). “Design metaphors”, Rizzoli International Publications

  21 Copy quote

• I try and be as stupid as possible regarding my profession, which means I try to look at as few design magazines as possible.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Stupid, Mean, Design

  18 Copy quote

• ...there is no doubt something will be done sooner or later to enable us to put on a house every day, just as we put on clothes or choose a book to read or a theater to go to, like choosing a day to be lived, within the limits grated by other destinies or chances.

  Ettore Sottsass

  Book, Destiny, Clothes

  14 Copy quote

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