Design: Playful Designer Ettore Sottsass Dies on New Year's Eve

Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass died New Year's Eve at age 90. Perhaps best known for his design of Olivetti's Valentine portable typewriter he branched out with his own firm, Memphis Group in the 80s, before abruptly leaving to concentrate on architecture. Sottsass developed an aesthetic that built on the geometric simplicity of modernism to embrace playful, bright primary colors and the interplay of bold simple shapes.

Here is his iconic Olivetti portable:

This is his 1981 Carlton cabinet:

Here is an example of a house Sottsass designed for his friend and fellow architect Ernest Mourmans in Belgium -- more info on this is in the storiesofhouses blog.