Memphis Group Design – Post-Modern Industrial Design Rocks The Establishment

Memphis Group Design – The Birth of Post-Modern Industrial Design

Rocking the Establishment – An Italian Design and Architecture Collaboration gives birth to Post-Modernism

This design group is not Mid-Century, our normal muse for Mod and POP design, but it ROCKS! I love the playfulness, the sense of humor, the bright colors, and the fresh perspective. It reminds me of toys, and is so NOT boring brown boxes!

Exhibiting work from 1981-1987, they formed a collaborative of artists whose designs were a reaction against post-Bauhaus dark blacks and browns of European furniture in the 1970’s.

Interestingly, Bob Dylan’s Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again was the source of the group’s name, and this song played repeatedly throughout the evening the group first met.

Their designs, which includes post modern furniture, fabrics, glass, metal and ceramics, draw inspiration from Pop Art, Art Deco and futuristic themes.

Wikipedia reports that “collections of radical one-off designs…with their unconventional shapes, brightly-colored and patterned surfaces and apparent disregard for function, shocked the international design establishment and caused a widespread re-think about the rational, all-black, industry-oriented conventions. Pieces were seen as art, and the new movement they gave birth to was “Post-Modernism”.

Coolness. Hope you enjoy!

Shine on! Braxton