"Murmansk" Fruit Dish
Designer Ettore Sottsass Italian, born Austria
Manufacturer Rossi e Arcandi, Vicenza
Not on view
Produced for Memphis, the group of Italian designers and architects formed in 1981 to create alternatives to the prevailing modernism of the postwar era, this centerpiece is an example of Sottsass’s designs that engage the user. Is Murmansk a reference to the city in Russia? Are the zigzag columns a reference to Russian steppes? Or is the manipulation of the silver simply a subversion of a traditional columnar form? The refraction of light permitted by the zigzag forms distorts the reflected images in the manner of a fun-house mirror, elevating the fruit bowl to the iconic status of Pop art.
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