Ettore Sottsass
Tappeto Volante

Tappeto Volante

© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Tappeto Volante
Tappeto Volante
DesignerItalian, born Austria, 1917–2007
ManufacturerItalian
CultureItalian
Titles
  • Tappeto Volante
  • Flying Carpet
Date1972
PlaceItaly
MediumBeechwood and stain, stretch-jersey fabric, velvet, and carpeting
Dimensions25 1/2 × 42 1/2 × 71 1/4 in. (64.8 × 108 × 181 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund
Object number2009.506
Non exposé

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Object Type
Description

The exotic, mystical world that architect and designer Ettore Sottsass found on a journey to India inspired his Flying Carpet chair. It is a fanciful creation whose elemental parts are a series of geometric volumes that are enhanced by a dramatic use of primal color and pattern.


Sottsass sought alternative experiences in India: He aimed to find “a culture of origins” that would ground him and reorient his design philosophy. He credits India with reinforcing for him the power of iconography and the connections objects have with their historical origin. The monuments and spiritual icons he saw there had a significant impact on his designs of the early 1970s including the Flying Carpet. It also owes a debt to Pop Art, a movement that interested Sottsass in terms of both aesthetics and mass appeal.


Provenance[Friedman Benda, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2009.
Exhibition History"Ettore Sottsass," Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, April 27 - September 5, 1994.

"Archetypes 1965 - 1995," Friedman Benda, New York, NY, May 1 - June 21, 2008.

"Recent Accessions in Design," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Alice Pratt Brown Gallery, August 16, 2009 - February 21, 2010.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
No apparent signature, marks or inscriptions.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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