An early Memphis table lamp by Scottish Designer Gerard Taylor (of Sottsass Associate fame), from the 1982 Memphis exhibition. Uber-precise in its detailing, it has its apparent roots in De Stijl as well as Postmodernism.
Gerard Taylor graduated in design from Glasgow School of Art and received his master’s degree from the Royal College of Art in London in the 1980s along with the generation of designers that included Ross Lovegrove, Jonathan Ive and Jasper Morrison. Upon graduation, Ettore Sottsass invited Taylor to join his design office in Milan to work on projects ranging from furniture for Knoll to worldwide retail stores for Esprit as well as to collaborate on the second and subsequent collections for Memphis, one of the most innovative and influential movements in international design. Memphis Milano is the great cultural phenomenon of the 1980s that revolutionized creative and commercial logics in design. Born from the idea of Ettore Sottsass and a group of young designers and architects, in Milan, coupled in the years by famous designers from the international scene, Memphis turned upside down all of the existing parameters on living. Ettore Sottsass as the backbone of the group, design gained a new concept and expression through new shapes, materials and patterns, expanding the creative limits of the industry. Memphis became a symbol of New Design. Its influence is still clear in various sectors of production and beyond.
