George Sowden

Last updated

George J. Sowden
Born1942 (age 8182)
Leeds, UK
NationalityBritish
Education Gloucestershire College
OccupationProduct designer
Spouse Nathalie Du Pasquier [1] [2]
Website georgesowden.com

George James Sowden (born 1942 in Leeds, UK) is a designer and product developer.

Contents

Career

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. In parallel to the industrial design work on early Olivetti computers., [3] he was involved during the 1970s in experimental "radical" design projects which enabled him to become, in 1981, one of the co-founders [4] of the Memphis Group, the design movement that had a significant impact on design in the eighties.

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.

In 1991, Sowden received the Compasso d'Oro Award for design excellence for Olivetti, Fax OFX420. [5] [6]

Works by Sowden are held by museums such as the Metropolitan Museum and Brooklyn Museum in New York, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. [7] [8] [9] [10]

Notable works

In 2010, Sowden developed the SoftBrew coffee brewing device, which is distributed and sold throughout the world, [11] notably in collaboration with the Danish design company HAY. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ettore Sottsass</span> Italian architect (1917–2007)

Ettore Sottsass was a 20th-century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings and interiors — often defined by bold colours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivetti</span> Italian manufacturer

Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen</span> Art museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located at the Museumpark in the district Rotterdam Centrum, close to the Kunsthal and the Natural History Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compasso d'Oro</span> Italian design award

Compasso d'Oro is the name of an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. The award was first sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store. It has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) since 1958. It is the first, and among the most recognized and respected awards in its field. The Compasso d'Oro aims to acknowledge and promote quality in the field of industrial design in Italy and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gae Aulenti</span> Italian architect and designer (1927–2012)

Gaetana "Gae" Aulenti was an Italian architect and designer who was active in furniture design, graphic design, stage design, lighting design, exhibition and interior design. She was known for her contributions to the design of important museums such as the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Contemporary Art Gallery at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the restoration of Palazzo Grassi in Venice, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Aulenti was one of only a few women architects and designers who gained notoriety in their own right during the post-war period in Italy, where Italian designers sought to make meaningful connections to production principles, and influenced culture far beyond Italy. This avant-garde design movement blossomed into an entirely new type of architecture and design, one full of imaginary utopias leaving standardization to the past.

<i>Christ in the House of Martha and Mary</i> (Velázquez) Painting by Diego Velázquez

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary is an oil-on-canvas painting from Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, dating to his Seville period. Housed in the National Gallery, London, United Kingdom, it was painted in 1618, shortly after he completed his apprenticeship with Pacheco. At this time, Velázquez was experimenting with the potential of the bodegones, a form of genre painting set in taverns or kitchens which was frequently used to relate scenes of contemporary Spain to themes and stories from the Bible. Often they contained depictions of people working with food and drink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Irvine (designer)</span> British Designer (1958–2013)

James Irvine was a British industrial designer who created furniture and product designs for many well known companies and brands such as Artemide, B&B Italia, Cappellini, Foscarini, Ikea, Magis, Muji, Thonet, and WMF. He once described the product designer's job as “the work of an unknown hero.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary White (textile designer)</span> English textile designer (1930–2020)

Mary Lillian White later Mary Dening was an English textile designer known for several iconic textile prints of the 1950s. Her designs were very popular and extensively copied in many 1950s homes, as well as in cabins aboard the RMS Queen Mary and at Heathrow Airport. She was also a commercial potter and ceramist, who in the 1960s founded Thanet Pottery, in partnership with her brother David White.

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.

Verband Deutscher Industrie Designer e.V. or VDID is a professional organization for industrial designers based in Germany that was founded by seven German designers in 1959. The VDID is an association of German designers founded to promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, professionalism, friendship, and support to all members to assist in the everyday working environment and career of industrial designers. The VDID works as a mediator between industry and designers, as well as politics and the economy. This organization is a sister organization to the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) through the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Djinn chair</span> Modernist chair created by Olivier Mourgue

The Djinn chair is a piece of furniture in the Modernist style, created by French designer Olivier Mourgue in the 1960s. Originally called the "Low fireside chair", it is also commonly referred to as the "2001 chair", because of its prominent appearance in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Jane Dillon, née Mary Jane Young is a British designer, educator and artist. She made significant contributions to furniture and Architectural lighting design across America and Europe. One of the few female international designers of her generation, Dillon's work encompassed contract and domestic furniture, lighting, textiles and glassware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Young (industrial designer)</span> British industrial designer and creative director

Michael Young is a British industrial designer and creative director based in Hong Kong. He works in the areas of product, furniture and interior design with studios in Hong Kong and Brussels. He is known for unconventional use of materials and manufacturing processes, and collaborations with brands such as Brionvega, Cappellini, KEF, La Manufacture, and MOKE International. He is interested in "how disruption in society always has a design response, because it usually creates a need for things that perform."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memphis Group</span> Italian design collective

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.

Christophe Coppens is a Belgian artist and opera director, living and working in Belgium. Trained initially as a theatre director, Coppens started his own label as an accessories designer at the age of 21, a career that would span over 20 years with several outlets, international press following and buyers the world over, and that he would combine and nurture with his first stunts and solo shows as an artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Arthur Smith Benson</span> English designer

William Arthur Smith Benson was a British designer active in the Arts and Crafts Movement.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabbianelli</span> Italian ceramics company

Gabbianelli is an Italian ceramics company specializing in ceramic wall and floor tiles. It was founded in 1939 by Enrico Gabbianelli with its manufacturing plant in Cusano Milanino. During the 1960s and 70s it also produced a series of ceramic objects for the home by prominent Italian designers. The company was bought by Ceramica Bardelli in 1996, although the two companies maintained their own production and brand names. In 2000, following a further period of consolidation and restructuring in the Italian ceramics industry, Bardelli, Gabbianelli, and several other brands became subsidiaries of the Biella-based Altaeco Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livio Castiglioni</span> Italian architect and designer (1911–1979)

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.

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. "Archivio Storico Olivetti". Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  4. Design Museum Page on Memphis
  5. "Industrial Design for Olivetti, Fax machines (1990)". George Sowden.
  6. "Apparecchio per fax "OFX 420"". ADI Design Museum (in Italian). Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  7. "George Sowden | Penrose Fruit Bowl". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  8. ""Dauphine" Calculator, Model STS01, by George Sowden for Alessi". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  9. "George James Sowden". Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  10. Sowden, George (1983), Design , retrieved 29 May 2024
  11. Green, Penelope. "George Sowden, an Industrial Designer". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  12. "George Sowden". HAY. Retrieved 1 May 2022.