Architect and designer (1917-2007), an artist with multiple interests, he was an eclectic and multi-faceted figure, one of the most famous and influential in the world of design.

After earning his degree at the Turin Polytechnic in 1939, he started work- ing in Milan, where he collaborated with Giuseppe Pagano. For more than 30 years he was in charge of computer design at Olivetti in Ivrea (the Valentine typewriter, 1969-1970, is an exhibit at the MoMA in New York) and received the Compasso d’Oro design award for the Elea electronic computer in 1959, the first of many international awards. He took part in many editions of the Milan Triennale. In 1948 he became part of the Movimento Arte Concreta, moving on later to embrace Spazialismo. A supporter of “radical design”, he became part of the Global Tools movement at the end of the ’70s and founded the Memphis group, a true laboratory of creativity, in 1981.

Various solo exhibitions have been dedicated to him: at the Venice Biennale (1976), at the Pompidou Centre (Paris 1994), at the Suntory Museum in Osaka (Japan 2000), and at the Mart in Rovereto (2005). Objects by Sottsass, icons of world design, are on display in the permanent collections of numerous international galleries and museums.