posted 01-29-2009 11:15 AM            

In the '60s and '70s, certain Italian designers, such as the late Ettore Sottsass, grew dissatisfied with the monochromism and austerity of Modernism and the Italian Radical Design Movement was born. In 1976, with the formation of Studio Alchimia in Milan, many of these designers and others were afforded an opportunity to turn their visions into actual products. Alchimia was very experimental, not commercially viable, and frightening to investors because of its sometimes politically radical points of view. Alchimia products, manufactured in small numbers by a various producers, reacted against Modern Design. They were colorful and characterized by aggressive, bizarre, and asymmetrical shapes as well as unusual juxtapositions of forms and mixtures of materials.

In 1981, several Alchimia and other designers formed the Memphis Group, which was backed more enthusiastically by investors and supported by larger manufacturing concerns. Memphis existed from 1981 to 1988 and held great influence 1980s design. It produced outrageous decorative arts, furniture, textiles, and so on. Like those of its predecessor Alchimia, Memphis's products were characterized by bold colors; asymmetric, geometric, and/or bizarre forms; and whimsy with a subtly unsettling quality. During the '80s, Alchimia remained active, but its products were more experimental and produced on a more limited scale.

Here are some examples of Memphis and related silverware and jewelry.

^"Murmansk" fruit bowl by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis.

^"Labrador" sauceboat by Andrea Branzi for Memphis, 1982

^Samovar and candelabrum by Guglielmo Rienzi for Alchimia, 1984

posted 01-29-2009 11:17 AM            

^Ring and necklace by Alessandro Mendini for Alchimia collection "Human Life Objects", 1983

^Aluminum Memphis-style earrings, 1980s.

^Metal and enamel brooch by Memphis designer Gerard Taylor for Acme studios, c. 1985.

Memphis silver is even less common than other materials, probably because silver didn't lend itself to the colorful nature of most Memphis designs. Also the designers frequently favored cheaper materials such as plastic and glass (although the end products were still extremely expensive).

(If you are not familiar with the Memphis style you can click here to view several classic examples.)

posted 01-29-2009 02:51 PM            

There was a wonderful gallery in the River West area of Chicago in the '80s that carried a lot of this sort of work, but it was unfortunately in the great Louis Sullivan warehouse building that burned in 1989. I happened to witness the end of that fire; I was going to an auction in the area that morning and as I got near started seeing smoke. Took the time to watch and lament the great loss....

Edit: I had a link to a Google-cached story on this fire, but for some reason the UBB coding wasn't working with the cached page and at the time of posting the direct link was also not working, but as Jersey points out below they did get it back up: The Great Gallery Fire. I'll leave this note here for the record....

[This message has been edited by FWG (edited 01-29-2009).]

posted 01-29-2009 06:37 PM            

FWG Is this what you meant
The Great Gallery Fire

Jersey

posted 01-30-2009 08:13 AM            

You are most kindly welcome! I got it from the search & clicked on the "cached" link, thats where it is.