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

Wood formica-plated base, brown and yellow lacquered metal stems, pink and red lacquered metal swiveling lampshade with halogen lightbulb. 'The Duck'. With original Memphis metal label attached.

Literature:

-The Complete Designers' Lights (1950-1990) by C. & D. Krzentowski, p331, illustrated.

-Repertorio del Design Italiano, 2 vols. p. 306, illustrated.

-Fiell. 1000 Lights. 1960 to present. P. 316, illustrated.

The Tahiti table light (1981) featured in the first, ground-breaking collection issued by Ettore Sottsass and his associates under the brand name of Memphis. The project was a willful assault on notions of "good taste" and "perfect" form. The designs were challenging and ironic and drew deliberately on kitsch and vernacular sources. Tahiti has a jokiness that is anti-chic, anti-fashion, anti- pretension. "We are all sure that Memphis furniture will soon go out of style," wrote Sottsass provocatively. Yet, as a philosophical position, Memphis has proved an indelible aspect of recent design history.

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.