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George J. Sowden | |
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Born | 1942 (age 81–82) Leeds, UK |
Nationality | British |
Education | Gloucestershire College |
Occupation | Product designer |
Spouse | Nathalie Du Pasquier [1] [2] |
Website | georgesowden |
George James Sowden (born 1942) is a British designer and product developer based in Milan.
George Sowden was born in Leeds, England, in 1942. He studied architecture at Gloucestershire College of Art in the 1960s. In 1970, he moved to Milan, where he started working with Ettore Sottsass and Olivetti. [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. [4] [5]
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.[ citation needed ]
In 1991, Sowden received the Compasso d'Oro Award for design excellence for Olivetti, Fax OFX420. [6] [7] [8]
Works by Sowden 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. [9] [10] [11] [12]
In 2010, Sowden developed the SoftBrew coffee brewing device, which is distributed and sold throughout the world, [13] notably in collaboration with the Danish design company HAY. [14]
Alessi is a housewares and kitchen utensil company in Italy, manufacturing and marketing everyday items authored by a wide range of designers, architects, and industrial designers — including Achille Castiglioni, Richard Sapper, Marco Zanuso, Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, Wiel Arets, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito, Hani Rashid, Tom Kovac, Greg Lynn, MVRDV, Jean Nouvel, UN Studio, Michael Graves, and Philippe Starck. The Alessi company in the UK is worth around £2.4 million.
Ettore Sottsass was a 20th-century Italian architect from the twentieth century. He was notable for his furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office ware designs as well as numerous buildings and interiors, often defined by bold colours.
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been part of TIM Group since 2003.
Kaj Gabriel Franck was one of the leading figures of Finnish design and an influential figure in design and applied arts between 1940 and 1980.
Christopher Dresser was a British designer and design theorist, now widely known as one of the first and most important independent designers. He was a pivotal figure in the Aesthetic Movement and a major contributor to the allied Anglo-Japanese or Modern Style, both of which originated in England and had long-lasting international influence.
Mario Bellini is an Italian architect and designer. After graduating from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1959, Bellini pursued a career as an architect, exhibition designer, product designer, and furniture designer during the Italian economic boom of the late 20th century. Bellini has received several accolades in a variety of design fields, including eight Compasso d'Oro awards and the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Triennale di Milano. In 2019, the Italian President of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico, awarded Bellini a career medal in recognition of his contributions to Italian architecture and design.
The Compasso d'Oro is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) since 1964. The Compasso d'Oro is the first, and among the most recognized and respected design awards. It aims to acknowledge and promote quality in its field in Italy and internationally, and has been called both the "Nobel" and the "Oscar" of design.
Antonio Citterio is an Italian architect, furniture designer and industrial designer who lives and works in Milan.
Marco Zanuso was an Italian modernist architect and designer.
Alberto Meda is an Italian engineer and designer. His work is held in museums around the world. He works and lives in Milan.
Not to Be Reproduced is a painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte. It is currently owned by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
Peter Shire is a Los Angeles–based artist. Shire was born in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, where he currently lives and works. His sculpture, furniture and ceramics have been exhibited in the United States, Italy, France, Japan and Poland. His work includes a sculpture in Elysian Park to honor the work done by Grace Simons and Peter Glass which kept the park open as green space.
The Memphis Group, also known as Memphis Milano, was an Italian design and architecture group founded by Ettore Sottsass. It was active from 1980 to 1987. The group designed postmodern furniture, lighting, fabrics, carpets, ceramics, glass and metal objects.
Study for Cardinal Niccolò Albergati is a silverpoint drawing attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, made in preparation for his Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati of 1431. Niccolò Albergati was traditionally identified as the subject of the drawing and portrait, but modern scholarship suggests that Henry Beaufort is more likely the subject. The drawing is held in the collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden.
Nathalie Du Pasquier is a Milan-based artist and designer mostly known for her work as a founding member of the Memphis Group. Her early body of work includes furniture, textiles, clothing designs and jewelry in addition to iconic work in decoration and patterns. Since 1987, she has consistently dedicated herself to painting.
Michele de Lucchi is an Italian architect and designer.
Sergio Asti was an Italian designer and architect, primarily known for his industrial designs for firms such as Artemide, Brionvega, FontanaArte, Gabbianelli, Heller, Knoll, Salviati, and Zanotta.
Osvaldo Borsani (1911-1985) was an Italian architect and furniture designer.
Andrea Branzi was an Italian architect, designer, and academic. He was born and raised in Florence, though he lived and worked in Milan for much of his career. He was a professor and chairman of the School of Interior Design at the Polytechnic University of Milan until 2009.
Livio Castiglioni was an Italian architect and designer. He made a significant contribution to twentieth-century Italian lighting design and was an early proponent of the practice of industrial design in Italy.