MATTER
OF SCALE
- EXHIBITION •
ith hundreds of exhibitions and
events packed into nine frantic
days,visitorstotheannual
London Design Festival are spoilt
for choice. In 2017 it was worthwhile
slowing down at the Chelsea showroom
of Italian furniture company Lema,
where a modest but revelatory exhibition
marked the centenary of architect and
designer Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007).
“WhenIwasborn,myfatherwhowas
an architect, put a pencil in my hand,”
Sottsassrelatesinhismemoirs.“Hewanted
metobecomeanarchitecttoo.”Asayoung
man, Sottsass worked with his father on
postwar Italian reconstruction projects.
His most successful period in architectural
practice was the 1980s, during which
time he worked in collaboration with
American architect Johanna Grawunder,An exhibition celebrating the work of
architect and designer Ettore Sottsass,
including stylized photographs of models
of his designs taken by Santi Caleca, was
held as part of the London Design Festival.Words by Colin Martinwho joined his studio, Sottsass Associati,
in1985.DeyanSudjic,directorofthe
Design Museum, commented in his intro-
ductiontotheexhibitionthatSottsass’s
architecturewas“aseriesofintensehugely
personal spatial experiments that stood
outside the architectural conversation
of their time.”
Sottsass’s experimentation is
demonstrated in photographs taken
byveteranItalianphotographerSanti
Caleca. Caleca met the architect in Milan
in1978andtheycollaboratedformore
than thirty years. Caleca photographed
Sottsass’s completed buildings, but,
more unusually, he also photographed
the architectural models made by studio
assistants. Sottsass used these models and
Caleca’sphotographsofthemastoolsin
evolvingthefinalformsofhisdesigns.The
photographs are not simply documentary,
they were also instrumental in the
architect’s creative process.
The photographs presented at the
MatterofScaleexhibitiondatefrom1986
to2001andrelatetoprojectsinEurope,
the USA and Asia. They are notable for
their intense, saturated colours, whichcreate a hyperreal, cinematic effect, further
enhanced by the stark lighting favoured by
thephotographer,whichflattensthethree-
dimensionality of the architectural models
and their faux trees. Projects documented
includeahousefortheSwissartdealerBruno
Bischofberger (Italy, 1988–1989); Mourmans’
House (Belgium, 1998–20 01); t wo houses
foranunnamedclientontheLogHillMesa
(Colorado, 1989); and a house on Jasmine
Hill (Singapore, 1996–1999).
It’s ironic that Sottsass, whose industrial
design projects included ultra-thin keyboards
for Olivetti, used models and photographs
rather than computers to harness his
inherent spatial and chromatic talent.
Both processes have a place in contemporary
architectural practice. Earlier last year,
RIBAStirlingPrize-winningCarusoStJohn
Architects exhibited its scale models, together
with photographs showing details, at
architectural gallery Betts Project in London.
Sottsass certainly would have approved.Matter of Scale was exhibited at the Lema
showroom as part of the London Design Festival,
16–24 September 2017.
londondesignfestival.com01 02
POSTSCRIPT01 Ettore Sottsass
(1917–2007) and Johanna
GrawunderofSottsass
Associati,Two hou se s
foravillageontheLogHill
Mesa, Colorado, USA,- © Santi Caleca.
02 Ettore Sottsass
(1917–2007) and
Johanna Grawunder
of Sottsass Associati,
Ernest Mourmans House,
Lanaken, Belgium,1998 -- © Santi Caleca.