58 new york | august 19–september 1, 2019
Italian architectEttore
Sottsassdesigned the wavy-
edged, six-foot-tall, pink-
neon-lighted Ultrafragola
mirror (a take on traditional
mirrors made of gilded wood)
in 1970; it debuted at the
Eurodomus 3 in Milan later that year. The piece,
which is still produced in Florence from its origi-
nal mold, has become emblematic of the 1980s
Memphis design movement, which in recent
years has had a major resurgence. Keith Johnson,
the president and director of Urban Architecture
(the first authorized Memphis furniture distribu-
tor in the U.S.), says he believes Sottsass designed
the Ultrafragola as an homage to women and
femininity. “Ultrafragola translates to ‘ultimate
strawberry’ in Italian,” he says. “And if you men-
tion a woman’s ‘strawberry’ in Italy, everyone
knows what you’re talking about.”investigation
Three
Designers
on What
Comes Next
Where Did It Come From?
“TheDC 1826C mirror
by Vincenzo de Cotiis
is made of
recycled
and silver-plated brass. I’m now
seeing these types of warmer
metals frequently.”
—JAMIE BUSH,interior designer“It’s a really goodcheer-you-up mirror
because the soft-pink light it emits flushes
your skin out in a flattering way.It’s fabulous.”
—ALEXEAGLE,designer and creative directorWhy It’s So Appealing
“For years, most people’s homes
were very Scandinavian inspired: modern,
clean, a little vanilla. So now, I think,
people are looking for something that
conflicts with that:arches, curves, shapes,
neon, and color. ”—ELIZABETH ROBERTS,
architect and designer“It’s like a cooler
version of that
LuMee casefor
iPhones that Kim
Kardashian uses.”
—SASHA BIKOFF,
interior designer“It’s a piece of art that also
functions as a mirror,
which means it mixes well
with contemporary spaces
as well as traditional.”
—ELIZABETH BAUER WATT,
interior designerA Wiggly Mirror’s Unlikely Journey
1983 The artistCinzia
Ruggeri is photographed
with the Ultrafragola in
her studio for Domus
magazine.1986 Karl Lagerfeld
acquires the mirror for his
home from French interior
designer Andrée Putman.1990 James Mansour,
then the head of store
design and planning at the
Limited, buys several of
the mirrors to install in
outposts of the clothing
retailer.2012 DesignerAlex
Eagle finds the mirror
at an antiques market
while on a buying trip,
and purchases it for her
store in London’s upscale
Chelsea neighborhood.2012 Theapartment
ofLouis Vuitton creative
director Nicolas
Ghesquière,which
features an Ultrafragola,
is depicted in the
December issue ofWorld
of Interiors.2014 Opening
Ceremony’s Heather
Neuburger purchases an
Ultrafragola for the store;
it quickly becomes a
popular place for shoppers
to take pictures. Soon after,
Olivia Kim, an O.C. alum
and now VP of creativeprojects at Nordstrom,
brings it into ten
Nordstrom stores.2015 London-based
fashion investorEiesha
Bharti Pasricha,who has
11,500 Instagram
followers, buys the
mirror for her Notting
Hill home and begins
posting selfies taken in it.
“Alex Eagle and I are the
only two in London who
have it and post pictures
of it regularly,” she says.2015 Boutique hotel Le
Pigalle opens in Paris’s
Ninth Arrondissement
with an Ultrafragola at
the entrance. A year later,
hotelier André Saraiva
opens Hôtel Grand
Amour in the Tenth
Arrondissement with an
Ultrafragola in one of the
rooms. It was so popular
that the hotel added a
second this past spring.
(Clients often specifically
ask for a room with
a Sottsass mirror,
a receptionist tells us.)2017 The stylistLaurel
Pantin debuts her
Ultrafragola, a gift from
her husband, on her
Instagram.2018 Raquel Cayre,
who runs a Memphis-
focused Instagram
account and works as anadviser to artists and
celebrities interested in
purchasing the pieces,
sells an Ultrafragola to
Bella Hadid. “She came
over, saw the mirror, and
gave her credit card to
me, like, that second,”
Cayre says.2018 Frank Ocean
takes a selfie in front of
his Ultrafragola.2019 Molly Howard,
CEO of striped-clothing
line La Ligne, puts
her Ultrafragola in the
dressing room of the
brand’s first brick and
mortar on Madison
Avenue. Howard first
heard of the Ultrafragola
in 2002 from her
“extremely sophisticated”
childhood friend, the
actress Annabelle
Dexter-Jones.2019 Influencer
Devon Lee Carlsonposts
a mirror selfie with the
Ultrafragola, captioned
“nothing gets between me
& my queen” (and gets
over 67,000 likes).“At a restaurant I’m working
on, we used a piece of polished,
unlacquered brass in the place
of a mirror. Brass is popular right
now, and it’s a softer reflection
for places where you don’t
necessarily want to catch a full
glimpse of yourself.” —E.R.“I’m seeing a lot of mirrors
lately in the style ofWharton
Esherick and JB Blunk, who
created rustic-looking mid-
century American craft
furniture. That aesthetic is on
the radar.”—CHARLES DE LISLE,
interior designer PHOTOGRAPHS: THE HISTORY COLLECTION/ALAMY (ETTORE SOTTSASS); OSCAR PICCOLO (ALEX EAGLE); BOBBY DOHERTY/NEW YORK MAGAZINE (RAQUEL CAYRE); BLONDED/INSTAGRAM (FRANK OCEAN); DEVONLEECARLSON/INSTAGRAM (DEVON LEE CARLSON); VINCENZO DE COTIIS (VINCENZO DE COTIIS); WRIGHT (WHARTON ESHERICK); COURTESY OF VENDORS (REMAINING)