Ettore Sottsass Ceramics

Customer Reviews:

More Then Memphis - A Lifetime of Achievement!.......2000-02-20

This is the second outstanding book published by Universe for which I have submitted an amazon.com review, the first having been "STARCK" by Morgan. Like that book, "The Work of Ettore Sottsass & Associates" is a concise, well balanced, beautifully designed, and entertaining volume. Beginning with a brief overview on the long and varied career of maestro Ettore Sottsass, this book offers welcome documentation of the graphic, product, and architectural designs of Sottsass Associati. The sumptuous full color photos throughout the book illustrate the full range of the firm's works and influence, covering everything from packaging for Alessi, to furniture for Venini, to the Malpensa 2000 Airport in Milan. The book's layout design by Sottsass Associati becomes an extension of the subject itself. Andrea Branzi's thoughtful introductory essay gives an insider's glimpse at the inspiration and history of the firm's founder.

Much to the book's credit, it makes it clear that the works presented here are the combined efforts of many talented contributors - not just the work of the firm's namesake. Sottsass has exercised considerable influence in the world of modern design but one of his greatest accomplishments my be his helping to prepare the generation of master designers who will take center stage after him.

"The Work of Ettore Sottsass & Associates" is a great addition to any library of modern design and/or architecture and, at the modest cover price (and even less from amazon.com), an irresistible bargain.

Book Description

In an effort to find the origin of all designed things, this exhibition and publication conduct an international survey of the history of design from William Morris's wallpaper to Rem Koolhaas's Prada store. Through examples of 30 completed research projects, The Origin of Things illuminates the process by which designers transform their often groundbreaking ideas into functional, manufacturable products. Drawings, cardboard models stuck together with tape and ultramodern computer animations are more significant here than the finished products, for they illuminate the designer's process in a way that the finished product--unless it is a deconstructive design object!--does not. In addition to the evolution of the paperclip and Gerrit Rietveld's Zigzag Chair, The Origin of Things also reveals the steps that led up to the best kettle ever, to a strikingly snotty vase and to visionary cars, vacuum cleaners and a fold-up scooter. Texts include an introduction that considers different visions of the prototype and interviews with Koolhaas, Jasper Morrison, Marc Newson, James Dyson, Wim Gilles, Wim Crouwel and others. Sketches, models and prototypes come via the drawing boards and studios of such luminaries as R. Buckminster Fuller, Aart Roelandt, Michele De Lucchi, Marcel Wanders, Dick van Hoff, Konstantin Grcic, Gerard Kiljan, Poul Henningsen, Tapio Wirkkala and Ettore Sottsass, with historical examples taken from the oeuvres of P.J.H. Cuypers, H.P. Berlage and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Customer Reviews:

A companion to the study of design and design philosophy.......2007-06-11

This book does not assert itself as a literal translation of history. The purpose of the book is to demonstrate shifts in thinking at the point in time when the proposition was entirely new and profound. Imagine being confronted with the humble paperclip - it is far too obvious to be important but indeed at one time it was very important and by the same logic it gives rise to the competing paperclips.

There are many me-too books showing the same drafts, models and concepts year after year. This is a book about being unique and essential - a point of origin. There is no attempt made here to offer a plagarism source for design school students - it is a mindspring for deeply philosophical elements in the design process and one which is strongly associated with numerous essays in social shaping and the nett-gains of being independently constructive.

It attempts to strike at the heart of great moments in design. It is a notepad / journal / concise-dictionary. If you want to take things further on any given topic there is ample material in any research library to do so. If you expect a literal step-by-step explanation of how everything has become meaningful through design then this book will not write that essay for you.

a mixed blessing.......2004-01-18

Can a book be deeply flawed and still be worth having? The Origin of Things delights and disappoints with every page. The book consists of a collection of design objects across the years, along with the sketches and related items used to achieve their final design, and the images are fascinating. The lowly paperclip gets the same treatment as the Frank Lloyd Wright vase, giving it the warhol treatment and reveal its beauty. The text, however, fails. It's often hasty and incomplete, or obtuse, or dry. The result is a tease that makes you hunger for more, or mystifies leaving you alone to look at the drawings and results. Often one sense a thrilling story behind the design process-- such as with Wim Gilles scooterette project, in which he fought to do a personal project to build a lightweight folding scooter/moped that got to final prototype then was killed preproduction-- but the story doesn't shine through. Not bad, but unsatisfying.

However, I've really enjoyed the book, no matter how disappointed I've been with an incomplete story, because it *is* so neat to look at beautiful, well crafted objects and their creation artifacts: the prototype kettle made of two pans soldered together, the x-rays that informed a silverware set, the raw and elegant drawings that became Lloyd Wright's vases.

Book Description

Born in 1917, Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass is today best known as the founder in the early 1980s of Memphis, the Milan-based design collaborative. As a harbinger of Postmodern design, Memphis - and soon Sottsass himself - became the subject of widespread public attention. As this book demonstrates, however, Sottsass has been a pioneer of worldwide significance in all major fields of design - furniture, ceramics, glass, jewellery, architecture and industrial design - throughout his sixty-five-year career, during which he has collaborated with many of the world's best-known manufacturers, Alessi, Olivetti and Svres among them.

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Cartier Design Viewed
Ettore Sottsass
Manufacturer: Skira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Van Cleef and Arpels
Masterpieces of Twentieth Century French Jewelry from American Collections
The Master Jewelers
Shinde Jewels (Memoirs)
Bedazzled: 5000 Years of Jewelry--The Walters Art Museum

ASIN: 888491258X
Release Date: 2002-09-07

Book Description

The original designs are not displayed, but are featured in the scenography as huge photographic enlargements that, for Ettore Sottass, conjure up the "idea" or "thought:" behind the object. Nevertheless, he felt it was important that the catalogue reflect the jeweler's graphic world. this book contains a selection of designs chosen in synergy with the layout of the exhibition. The combination of actual-size reproductions with enlargements makes it possible to see the act of creation, circumscribed by the ratio of I and the correct proportions it generates, in close relation to the graphic or pictorial technique, which monumentalizes the object or piece of jewelry - thereby mirroring Ettore Sottass' architectural vision. The pieces chosen showcase production drawings that illustrate the unique relationship between design and material. All designs reproduced here are from the Cartier Paris Archives.

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Ettore Sottsass (Design Heroes)
Jan Burney
Manufacturer: Taplinger Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0800824687

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Enzo Cucchi e Ettore Sottsass
Roberto Giustini , Barbara Radice , and Enzo Cucchi
Manufacturer: Charta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 8881583631
Release Date: 2002-08-02

Book Description

Two subversive creators propose a dialogue inspired by a land they both love: Sicily. The artist Cucchi and the architect Sottsass met for the first time in 1999; this book documents the drawings, projects, and sketches they have realized together since then.

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Sottsass: 700 Drawings
Ettore Sottsass
Manufacturer: Skira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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Ettore Sottsass: Architect And Designer

ASIN: 8876240934
Release Date: 2005-09-06

Book Description

Direct from notebooks kept in Sottsass's personal archives, here is a rare look at a master's design process: 700 Sottsass drawings spanning a rich career in design and architecture from 1936 to the present. The colorful collection includes sketches of buildings, as well as Sottsass' trademark furniture, ceramics, glass, and jewelry . Many of these drawings have never been published. including more personal jottings and drawings not directly linked to design or architecture. Taken together they show the enormous span of his creative activity.

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Beppe Caturegli Tappeti E Arazzi
Ettore Sottsass
Manufacturer: Elio Palmisano Edizioni Tessili
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J47FLO

Amazon.com

This collaborative effort between two activist artists is very well-meaning and does have some strong content. It evolved out of Ms. Ensler's conversations with women who approached her after the earliest performances of The Vagina Monologues, women who felt the need to witness to her, to tell their own experiences. However, very little of that detail exists in these many pages, and the effort feels more like an overgown pamphlet than a real book. That is a shame, considering the true excellence of Ensler's and photographer Joyce Tenneson's work, as well as the strength of the "V Day" cause that sales of this work help to raises funds for. In 2004, V Day had grown to 2300 events and had raised 25 million dollars to support women's rights. The Vagina Monologues gets much of its considerable power from the specificity, the viscerality and the humor of the play. Yet all of these elements are missing from this collaboration. The book is laid out rather cheesily, with portraits of "Vagina Warriors" next to very brief statements that speak to the idea of the Vagina Warrior in modern society. In the end, this is a souvenir, not really much of a book. Ensler's text is minimal, and the photographs are not even given full-page treatment, nor are they printed particularly well. But if what you want is a souvenir for a truly amazing movement, it's certainly fine as such. --Mike McGonigal

Book Description

DESCRIPTION: VAGINA WARRIORS is a unique collaboration between playwright/activist/V-Day founder Eve Ensler, creator of the international hit The Vagina Monologues, and world-renowned photographer Joyce Tenneson, whose Wise Women changed the way people look at women and aging. The book features Ensler's essays alongside Tenneson's portraits of V-Day activists, many of them well-known celebrities, with powerful statements and quotations from the subjects. Ensler has dubbed these women and men, who are committed to ending violence against women and girls throughout the world, Vagina Warriors. The celebrities featured include Glenn Close, Salma Hayek, Gloria Steinem, Isabella Rossellini, Jane Fonda, and numerous others.

Customer Reviews:

You Have a Warrior Inside - Waiting to Be Fully Expressed.......2006-01-14

This is a follow up of the "Vagina Monologues," after Eve Ensler met women everywhere who felt and still feel grateful for Ms. Ensler's work to give women and girls an unstoppable voice that congruently communicates:

1. Go the distance, and then some;
2. Disarm the potentially disempowering force coming towards
you;
3. Demonstate that you are here, and that you matter;
4. Your inner power adds potential to men and women; and,
5. Compassion, not punishment is the answer;

The messages from the following people are especially moving:

Hazelle Goodman, an actor from New York, says, "As a Vigina Warrior,I say to endangered women everywhere, 'Let me hold your broken wing while you fly.'"

Carole Black, President and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services, shares, "... I am dedicated to using the power of the mediato inform and support wome on the issues most important to them and their families."

And Gloria Steinem's message in this book says, "... look at the world as if women matter[].."

In this book there are over sixty-five profiles of famous and not so famous Vagina Warriors who come from all over the world.

Their world vision is guided by the compassion and determination that moves women and girls, as well as men towards simultaneous autonomy and connection.

Who could ask for more?

Vagina Warriors: an emerging paradigm, an emerging species.: An article from: Sister Namibia

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Vagina Warriors: an emerging paradigm, an emerging species.: An article from: Sister Namibia
Eve Ensler
Manufacturer: Sister Namibia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Sister Namibia, published by Sister Namibia on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1191 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Vagina Warriors: an emerging paradigm, an emerging species.
Author: Eve Ensler
Publication: Sister Namibia (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: Sister Namibia
Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Page: 26(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Grendel Drago has been fatally contaminated with radiation. But a Grendel must die in battle, not in bed, so Drago prepares for his final mission -- he will kill the mysterious monster on the outskirts of town and die in the blaze of combat.

Customer Reviews:

Horrible reviews.......2005-06-14

First of all, most reviews on amazon are OK. I didn't wanna bother writing them, but after this I have to. I give this 3 stars (I only gave it 1 to balance other people's overrated grades). To the mo**n M. Vasiljevic. This is not a perfect explanation what happened to ex-Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia had 6 republics and Soviet Union had 12 or so. Soviet Union dissolved peacefully, but Yugoslavia didn't. The reason for that is that Serbia, who dominated the country politically and economically (just like Russia dominated ex Soviet Union) didn't want it to end, and started the war. After the 6 republics declared independency, Serbia attacked them. First Serbia attacked Slovenia, than Croatia and finally Bosnia. We didn't have the same language, plus 5 republics had roman letters, Serbs cyrillic, so M. Vasiljevic, you are an ignorant pr**k. The other thing is that people in Croatia are Catholics, Serbs are Orthodox, some people in Bosnia are muslims. Everybody didn't shoot at each other, Serbs shoot at everone.
Finally the story is for children, I'm sorry that I have to say, I'm from Zagreb, Croatia, and I wanted to give this 5, but I can't. The story is 1 star, illustrations are 4 stars. I can't rate this better. Most reviewers obviuosly grew up on fairy tales and claim this to be the best graphic novel ever like Borjan Komarica.
My advice for all of you - read Enki Bilal - the best one's are "The Hunting Party" and "The Beast Trilogy". Enki's stories and illustrations are 5 stars. His comic books are for mature readers. I'm 29, and I tought that most readers here are above 20, so I believed their reviews. After you are done with his comic books, then come back and review this again.

A perfect explanation for what happened on Balkans..........2005-04-15

...in 20th century. In this future situated book, there are clans who speak same language, have same religion but, however, keep backstabbing and shooting at each other.

The first story arc is about honorable warrior who is in quest of warrior's death because he is radiation poisoned.

The second part of the book is parable of what happened in ex Yugoslavia: they let people kill each other and then marched in as pacificators.

Although this is fictional book, you have all the tragedy of balkan people and their mentality.

This book is REALLY one of the best written, because it has no script: the script IS the truth that we witnessed.

amazing grace.......2005-02-20

and ease with which late edi biukovic drew a story, at its best. one of the most beautifully written and drawn comic books i have ever seen - and i have seen many, as i used to date a comic book store owner for years. i also knew edi in person. he was obsessed with framing and composition, and he actully SAW the story unravel like a movie in his head. out of all his works i prefer grendel tales, to the level of purchasing 3 original tables. if you like art in any of its many forms and fashions, you'll love this.

A must-have for your graphic novel collection........2003-07-23

The only excuse for you not to read this tale is for someone to say "oh heck, i'm not familiar with the characters and story behind Grendel". Well don't fret, neither am I. And that didn't effect me one bit in fully enjoying this moving, tour de force, graphic novel.
The story starts here and ends here. But your thoughts on it won't, atleast for another day or two. It's got everything to captivate you; a little bit of good humour, a lot action, and it's got it's share of dark moments.

It's about war, and properly portrayed too, i.e there really isn't any glory in it. How can it when lives are lost?
I have to admit this book is original and creative especially when you loook at 90% of all the other graphic novels put out in the comic market these days. This one rises high above the rest of all that trashy...and only few works of Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman can be compared to it.

a fiction so true to war, and true to Croatia.......2002-04-16

Grendel: Devils and Deaths is one of those great comic fictions (like Dark Knight and Watchmen) which reveal so much of the time and culture which produced them. The story takes place in an imagined distant future, but yet is so clearly about the hatreds and terror of the early 90s Balkan wars (its writer and artist are natives of Croatia).

I think what I love so much about this work is the constant mix of strength and weakness in the characters-- there are no supermen here. The boldest warriors are gripped with fear, the most murderous generals are not portrayed without sympathy, and even the most oppressed are not innocent. This is real life.

It is true to the Balkans, with its myriad factions, and also so true to Croatia-- the beautiful beaches Borna longs to see...

This work is sadly out of print, but hopefully not for long. Highly recommended.

Matt Wagner's Grendel tales: Devils and deaths (Dark Horse Comics collection)
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Matt Wagner's Grendel tales: Devils and deaths (Dark Horse Comics collection)
Darko Macan
Manufacturer: Darkhorse Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006ROZO4

Amazon.com

With the millennium fast approaching and Armageddon just around the corner, one fundamental question lingers: how will it all come down? In search of an answer, James Finn Garner conducted an exhaustive and hilarious examination of nearly every source readily available for predicting the future, including boiled tea leaves, crystal balls, and severed donkey heads. With plenty of wit and tongue planted firmly in cheek, Garner seeks to uncover the universal truths behind crop circles, harmonic convergence, and channeling. Continuing the irreverent style he established with his bestselling Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, he has fun with conspiracy theorists and shysters alike, providing a fun read for those not busy stockpiling provisions.

Book Description

As the year 2000 bears down, the best-selling author of Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, James Finn Garner, confronts a series of monumental questions: Will we remember to order new checks from the bank? Did our invitation to the Kennedy New Year's party get lost in the mail again? Are we all poised on the brink of worldwide enlightenment or complete planetary destruction? Should you really bother investing in that Five-Year CD?

"Tonight," in the unforgettable words of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, "We're gonna party like it's 1999." The end is near...or at least nearer than it used to be, says Garner. Humanity is wracked by millennial panic and apocalyptic anticipation -- or if it isn't already, just wait until it reads Garner's latest (and last?). In it, he sets off on a slightly-to-the-South-of-skeptical pilgrimage in search of the truth behind the end times predictions.

Customer Reviews:

Wishing the end (of the book) was nigh.......2006-07-12

"Apocalypse Wow!" is James Finn Garner's take on all things eschatological. He promises a funny take on Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and other who have found the need to predict the end of the world.

After his triumph with "Politically Correct Bedtime Stories," I was hoping for another Garner home run. What I got was a bunt single. The roughest going is Garner's style. It is appropriately snarky, but it's often hard to tell whether he is giving straight history, making a joke, or just making random (and therefore funny?) statements. At the very least, I hoped for a book that explored the foibles of human beings when faced with imminent cosmic catastrophe. What I got was a series of comical remarks without the context to make them funny or educational.

I'm disappointed. I found that I had to push myself to turn the pages. Also, the printing values -- especially the pages printed white on black or using script font -- render some text literally unreadable. Hence the 2 star rating.

Take the Doomsday Final Exam.......2003-09-17

The author of Political Correct bedtime Stories this time analyses the world of doomsdayers from religious nuts to asteroid destroying prophesizors. Like the fairy tale books some of the stuff in here is really good and some is rather average. This book was written in 1997 so analysis of the fear of the new millennium is out of date. Anyway, take the Doomsday Final Exam, examine Nostradumuses predictions, learn what to do in case a Jehovah's witness visits. Learn about the crop circles the media did not tell us about, reincarnation and who the antichrist is. Lots of other stuff is in the book too. If you like to poke fun at things then this is the book for you.

Not with a bang, but a snicker........2002-11-26

Okay, so the millenium has passed, but there are still some who say that apocalyptic doom is just around the corner. James Finn Garner has taken all this doom and gloom and dissected it with a satirist's wit, hopefully putting all your fears to rest. Imagine the skepticism of a James Randi combined with the irreverence of a Michael Moore as he tackles everything from the Bible to UFOs. Maybe now you'll be able to sleep at night. I recommend reading this with Stephen Jay Gould's QUESTIONING THE MILLENIUM.

Simply quaint.......2000-11-23

Luckily, nothing momentous happened when the year 2000 came to be, and we can now crawl out from under rocks and out of bomb shelters and openly laugh at our now silly-seeming fears. Or maybe it's just James Garner. Aside from a few interesting gags and factoids, the humour of this Y2K spoof is muddled and repetitive. The chapters cover literally everything from divination to prophecy to Y2K preparations (not to mention the significance of the year MM to McDonalds Corporation), but I couldn't bring myself to anything bigger than a quaint smile.

This book is not for the devout believers. Do notice than in Garner's dictionary, the words "eschatological" and "scathological" are separated only by a single syllable.

Now that we've survived!.......2000-04-05

This one is just for the fun of it! What did you do the night the millennium ended? This author has some hilarious ideas about what to do & how we did it when the odometer clicked over from 999. If you're religiously sensitive I advise you to give this little book a miss, if on the other hand, you have a lively sense of the absurd, love to have your tongue tied up in exuberant language & take humor literally you will get much irreverent & novel comedy from those burning questions that cropped up. Will the warranty still be valid in 00? A little outdated now as we all know we've survived yet good enough for a laugh or three.

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Apocalypse Wow

Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H7EU2U

Apocalypse Wow! A Memoir for the End of Time

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Apocalypse Wow! A Memoir for the End of Time
James Finn Garner
Manufacturer: The Franklin Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000VAD402

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Apocalypse Wow
James Finn Garner
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NXIJP2

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