I first became interested in reading this voluminous monograph of Sottsass’s career when I saw the book in San Francisco in 2014 （I’d guess it was attached to an original exhibit， but I did not go to it， if it existed）; with the release of the second edition， I decided to go ahead and take the plunge。 I had a greater understanding of Sottsass’s overall life due to having read the book by Deyan Sudjic， “Ettore Sottsass and the Poetry of Things”， which provided a good top-line overview of relevant I first became interested in reading this voluminous monograph of Sottsass’s career when I saw the book in San Francisco in 2014 （I’d guess it was attached to an original exhibit， but I did not go to it， if it existed）; with the release of the second edition， I decided to go ahead and take the plunge。 I had a greater understanding of Sottsass’s overall life due to having read the book by Deyan Sudjic， “Ettore Sottsass and the Poetry of Things”， which provided a good top-line overview of relevant biographical information， his association with Memphis， the projects of Sottsass Associati， and so forth。 As with just about all of Phaidon’s books that I’ve read， the production of it is immaculate， and in this individual case somehow seems to mirror certain elements of Sottsass’s ethos （particularly with respect to magazine design and production—his various short-run publications throughout his life， providing essays on his artistic/design philosophy and process as well as additional cultural and literary commentary， eschewed many of the typical magazine design dictums by mixing paper usage， interspersing text-heavy pages with pages completely comprised of images， etc）。 We are treated to a generous set of Sottsass’s sketches; renditions of rugs he drew during his time as a prisoner of war （late in World War II） in Pljevlja， Montenegro; excellent photo selections of the houses that Sottsass designed during the 1980s and 1990s， with his sixth and seventh decades being some of his most fecund and productive; and， most of all， descriptions of his importance （with a high volume of examples in sketch form and in praxis） as one of the last designers who came up in the era before the “industrialization” of design， where theoretical concepts were at times as important as the ability to put them into practice and thereby monetize them。 Furthermore， Sottsass’s own photographs appear throughout the book， demonstrating in an artistic sense his ability to draw forth “the unseen within the seen”， and in a cultural-influence sense chronicling the catholic variety of his associations through his five-plus decades of life in the public eye。 Sottsass’s photographs reveal the extent to which he was tangentially involved with a broad cross-section of cultural movements。 One of the publications he created， Room East 128， published Beat Poets such as Michael McClure， Allen Ginsberg， and Philip Whalen （Whalen was published for the first time by Sottsass）。 His first wife， Fernanda Pivano， was the primary translator of Ernest Hemingway’s books into Italian。With respect to his eye for the unseen （or， perhaps， more accurately， “not noticed”）， in one particularly striking pair of photographs， slightly different parts of one side a cottage-like house， probably 100 years old or more at the time the photos were taken， are shown with the wind having blown the single curtain in front of an isolated window into different positions， so that different degrees of “blackness” or emptiness are visible behind the curtain。 In using different positions， Sottsass also reveals the relative disrepair of the roof of the house in one image， then not the other。 The combination of the disparate elements affords one a sense of mystery in wondering who lives on the other side of the window， evoking solitude that may be disquieting or calming。 Sottsass’s concern with the architectural spaces he designed was to ensure that the people living or working in them， or shopping （as in the case of his store designs for well-known brands such as Esprit） were provoked to think about how their own feelings were reflected in the space; architecture should not merely be the creation of working and living spaces that are neutral， but should spur the occupant to draw more deeply from the elements within themselves （even in environments where the workers are intended to merely be industrial appendages of some larger aim… some of the designs were never executed due to this discordance）， affording new freedoms in terms of the relationship one has with one’s surroundings。 From a visual standpoint， one could best say that Sottsass was concerned with the vibrant and complete use of the color palette at a time when modernism （and， then， later， post-modernism: Sottsass lived from 1917-2007， and could be reasonably said to be in his prime years as a designed and thinker during both movements to some extent） was interested in flattening the palette; in the extensive use of curved figures and curves/uneven surfaces at a time individuals were becoming more interested in operating in a world of flattened shapes。 In other words， he was interested in expanding certain visual and stylistic vocabularies as others were attempting to explore an infinitude of varieties of designs within a more rigorous set of limitations。 For me， the most interesting parts of the book were the photo galleries provided for the houses designed for Adrian Olubanuega an Leslie Bailey in Hawaii， for David Kelly in California， and others， which provide in-depth clarity to Sottsass’s design concepts。 One can clearly see in these houses Sottsass’s unique use of colors in combination with each other， and the idea that a house should be comprised of separate interior and exterior spaces that allow the inhabitant to both bring their own personal psychic/mental energies to the living space， while being acted upon by the space itself。 The yellow and red sections of the Olubanuega ACME house are so striking next to the monochromatic base of the house that it almost seems as if the colors are floating in some sort of ethereal “other space”， an effect Sottsass often achieved with his architectural designs。 To my mind， it’s an essential book for those interested in his work。 。。。more