Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Vetrinetta di Famiglia
Ettore Sottsass Italian, born Austria
Manufacturer Studio Alchymia Italian
Not on view
This cabinet may be viewed as having evolved from Sottsass’s 1960s designs for "robot furniture" and the Superboxes. The earlier robot cabinets are disturbingly anthropomorphic, featuring knobs for eyes, for example. By contrast, the Superboxes are monoliths and completely wrapped in laminate patterning. In Vetrinetta, Sottsass combined the two in a radically contemporary robot-like hybrid of a lamp and a curio cabinet to hold tchotchkes. The glass window allows us to view the treasures inside, which are encased in a box covered with his Bacterio pattern laminate in black and white. As always, color plays an important role, with the interior covered in acid hues and fluorescent lights in red and yellow.
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