George Sowden

George J. Sowden
Born	1942 (age 82–83) Leeds, UK
Nationality	British
Education	Gloucestershire College
Occupation	Product designer
Spouse	Nathalie Du Pasquier [1] [2]
Website	georgesowden.com

George James Sowden (born 1942) is a British designer and product developer based in Milan, where he moved in the early 1970s "and never left." He has "designed hundreds of objects, from [...] computers and peripherals to housewares, appliances, furniture and [...] writing instruments". ^[3]

Life and career

George Sowden was born in Leeds, England, in 1942. He studied architecture at Gloucestershire College of Art in the 1960s. In 1971, he moved to Milan, where he started working with Ettore Sottsass and Olivetti. ^{[4] [3]}

In parallel to the industrial design work on early Olivetti computers, he was involved during the 1970s in experimental "radical" design projects which enabled him to become, in 1981, one of the co-founders of the Memphis Group, the design movement that had a significant impact on design in the eighties. ^{[5] [6]}

In the same year, 1981, he founded his design studio, SowdenDesign, collaborating with companies such as Olivetti, Alessi, Bodum, Guzzini, Lorenz, Rancilio, Steelcase, Swatch, Segis, Memphis, IPM, Moulinex, Telecom Italia, Tefal and Pyrex. ^{[3] [ citation needed ]}

In 1991, he received the Compasso d'Oro Award for design excellence for Olivetti, Fax OFX420. ^{[7] [8] [9]}

His works are held by museums such as the Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and Cooper Hewitt in New York, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. ^{[10] [11] [12] [13]}

Notable works

In 2010, Sowden developed the SoftBrew coffee brewing device, which is distributed and sold throughout the world, ^[3] notably in collaboration with the Danish design company HAY. ^[14]

• 
  Star Lamp, 1973
• 
  Familiar Landscapes, 1973
• 
  L1 system, Olivetti, 1978–79
• 
  L1 system, Olivetti, 1978–1979

References

1. "Q&A: Nathalie Du Pasquier, the Queen of Memphis". Metropolis. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
2. "Biographies: George Sowden". Ketterer Kunst. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
3. Green, Penelope (30 September 2010). "George Sowden, an Industrial Designer". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
4. Fiell, Charlotte; Fiell, Peter (2005). Design of the 20th Century (25th anniversary ed.). Köln: Taschen. ISBN   9783822840788. OCLC   809539744.
5. "Archivio Storico Olivetti". Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
6. "Design Museum Page on Memphis"
7. "Industrial Design for Olivetti, Fax machines (1990)". George Sowden.
8. "OFX 420". ADI Design Museum . Retrieved 29 May 2024.
9. "I 16 Compassi d'Oro Olivetti". Associazione Archivio Storico Olivetti (in Italian). 7 March 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
10. "George Sowden | Penrose Fruit Bowl". Metropolitan Museum of Art . 1983. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
11. ""Dauphine" Calculator, Model STS01, by George Sowden for Alessi". Brooklyn Museum . Retrieved 29 May 2024.
12. "George James Sowden". Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen . Retrieved 29 May 2024.
13. Sowden, George (1983), Design , retrieved 29 May 2024
14. "George Sowden". HAY. Retrieved 1 May 2022.

Further reading

• Baacke, R.-P., Brandes, U. & Erlhoff, M., Design als Gegenstand: der neue Glanz der Dinge (Frölich & Kaufmann, Berlin, 1983) ISBN   3-88725-008-7
• Barbara Radice, Memphis: research, experiences, results, failures, and successes of new design (Rizzoli, New York, 1984) ISBN   0-8478-0569-7
• Silvia Katz, Classic plastics: from bakelite to high-tech : with a collector's guide. (Thames and Hudson, London, 1984) ISBN   0-500-01347-0
• Andrea Branzi, The hot house: Italian new wave design (Thames and Hudson, London, 1984) ISBN   0-500-27348-0
• Penny Sparke, Design in Italy: 1870 to the present (Abbeville Press, New York, 1988) ISBN   0-89659-884-5
• M. Collins, A. Papadakēs, Post-modern design (Rizzoli, New York, 1989) ISBN   0-8478-1136-0
• British Design & Art Direction in collaboration with RotoVision, The product book (Crans-près-Céligny, Switzerland, 1999) ISBN   2-88046-394-7
• Fiell, C., Fiell, P., Haag, C., & Safavi, P., Designing the 21st century. (Taschen, Koln, 2001) ISBN   3-8228-5883-8
• Peter Zec, Who's who in design. Vol. 2. (AVedition, Stuttgart, 2003) ISBN   3-89986-002-0
• Terence Conran, Max Fraser, Designers on design (Conran Octopus, London, 2004) ISBN   1-84091-400-9
• Fiell, Charlotte, and Peter Fiell., 1000 Lights. Vol. 2 (Taschen, Koln, 2005) ISBN   3-8228-2475-5

External links

• Sowden SoftBrew official site
• Biography from 'Art and Culture' Archived 4 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
• Biography on 'Ketterer Kunst Gallery'
• Design samples on 'Artnet'