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.