Ashoka table lamp, designed by Ettore Sottsass. Italy, 1981.

Metal construction, lacquered in different colours. Numbered edition.

The ‘Ashoka’ table lamp is one of the of several lamp designs produced by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis. In form this is the closest to the ‘cactus’ or ‘totem’ design language of some of his furniture, like the Carlton room divider and the Casablanca sideboard. It heralds the namesake 'Ashoka the Great', an Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 268-232 BC.

Reference: Fiell. 1000 Lights. 1960 to present. P. 316, illustrated.

Ettore Sottsass (14 September 1917 – 31 December 2007). Italian architect and designer of the late 20th century. His body of designs included furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting and office machine design. Sottsass Associati, primarily an architectural practice, also designed elaborate stores and showrooms for Esprit, identities for Alessi, exhibitions, interiors, consumer electronics in Japan and furniture of all kinds. The studio was based on the cultural guidance of Ettore Sottsass and the work conducted by its many young associates, who often left to open their own studios.