Postmodernism and Memphis
A revolt against modernism's rules: laminate in bright colours, historical quotations, irony and jokes – and a new world of electronic gadgets.
During the 1970s many designers grew tired of modernism's demands for simplicity and truth. The architect Robert Venturi wrote that less is a bore. In Milan Alessandro Mendini and Studio Alchimia gathered designers who painted classic chairs and made ironic comments on good design.
In 1981 the group Memphis, led by Ettore Sottsass, showed its first collection in Milan. The furniture was built of plastic laminate in bright colours and patterns, with forms that played with bookcases, tables and lamps. The group was named after a Bob Dylan song and after the city in both Egypt and Tennessee. It disbanded in 1988, but its colours and patterns spread across the world.
At the same time microelectronics made it possible to give new products almost any form. Sony's Walkman of 1979, the Swatch of 1983 and Apple's Macintosh of 1984 became symbols of a time when design was seen as part of lifestyle. Design became an industry of its own, with design museums, design hotels and designers as celebrities.