The Mettsass is a big, red moment in a room. Ettore
Sottsass designed the table with a confident shape
and bright colour. It is bold and powerful.
It is constantly new. The Italian architect, industrial
designer, innovator and artist Ettore Sottsass
designed the Mettsass table for BD in 1972, nearly a
decade before co-founding the Memphis movement,
which shifted modern design forever. He was
always one to experiment, and his preoccupation
with nonconformity defined the architecture of the
Mettsass with flat sheets of steel, a vibrant coat of
red, and a cultivation of aesthetics and emotion. The
colour and geometry are bold and conspicuous, far
from the Bauhaus minimalism of the era. Reissued
in 2012 and still in production today, the Mettsass
remains functional but has a sensory dimension that
is traditionally inaccessible. It works as a table and sits
like a giant gem.
Metssass
ETTORE SOTTSASS
389
