Discover Storied Works By Sottsass On Display In Paris

For its second year, Design Miami.Paris was held at the L’hôtel de Maisons, where exquisite vintage and new furnishings for sale included Jean Prouvé’s 1952 prefab Carnac House, Anna Le Corno’s Undergrowth desk composed of mycelium, and a series of vivid, shapely totems made and named after noteworthy historical, literary, and mythical women by Ettore Sottsass for Sèvres. To celebrate the latter collection’s 30th anniversary, the centuries-old French porcelain manufacturer has mounted “Sottsass | Sèvres Tempus 1994–2024,” a coinciding and still-on-view exhibition at its Paris gallery, reintroducing the same 14 sculptures shown at Design Miami.Paris, plus one wonderful surtout, or table centerpiece.

“Sèvres by Sottsass is the most powerful expression of Sottsass’s genius and his dream of eternity,” architect and exhibit curator Charles Zana says of the Memphis Group founder. In fact, the Sèvres pieces, which have such titles as Cléopâtre, Joséphine, and Juliette, boast hues and shapes that are Memphis reminiscent—and showcase the Italian icon’s ceaseless quest for balance in form, confrontation of materials, and exploration of color. They’re also part of the Musée nationaux de Sèvres’s permanent collection.