Ettore Sottsass: Design begins where magic begins

23 Jun – 04 Oct 2026
Tokyo, Japan
artizon.museum
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At Artizon Museum in Tokyo, Ettore Sottsass: Design Begins Where Magic Begins follows the Italian designer’s long argument with rationalism. Furniture, ceramics, glassware, office equipment, photography, and drawings trace a career that moved from Olivetti and Poltronova into Radical Design and Memphis, where color and form became tools for loosening the rules of modern design.

The exhibition is Japan’s first major Ettore Sottsass retrospective and the museum’s first design-themed show, built around more than one hundred works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection. Familiar pieces like Carlton, Casablanca, Valentine, and Superbox sit alongside later cabinets, vases, and archival material, framing design as something technical, emotional, and slightly magical in the same breath.

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