
David Bowie‘s collection of Memphis-Milano furniture (2016) - tintinnabula
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/space-oddity-david-bowies-secret-obsession-with-80s-memphis-design/
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alex_young
This style is still alive and well in Milano - on a recent trip to La
Rinascente (a shopping mall) I noticed a new edition of the record player
listed here. I also noticed no indication of price, and correctly assumed it
was out of the sane spectrum -
[https://www.brionvega.it/en/products/radiofonografo/radiofon...](https://www.brionvega.it/en/products/radiofonografo/radiofonografo-
rr226-o.html)

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cpach
That’s awesome! Feel free to post some more links (or mail me), I’m very
fascinated by Italian design.

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tcbawo
Stylistically, it's hard to imagine anything as stereotypically 80s as this
collection of furniture and lamps. It's like the early days of 3D rendering in
physical form.

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Kaibeezy
I was in architecture school in the early 80s, part of the last generation
trained to produce only hand-drawn work. Memphis, plus Michael Graves on the
buttoned-down side (what do you mean you can’t find a caryatid supplier?) and
Frank Gehry on the wild side (the chain link fence goes where?), were hugely
disruptive, creating imagery that was “so wrong it had to be right” for us
noob designers.

That said, two of the most archetypal 80s things I can think of are that weird
percussion break in the middle of “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, by Yes, and David
Byrne’s huge suit. Although these are music-related, they were every bit as
influential to my cohort.

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mc32
That huge suit found itself in oversized jackets and shirts (all kinds of
“tops”) in Hollywood. Looking at early pictures of mature stars today, Pitt,
Moore, Roberts, etc... shudder...

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jermaustin1
These pieces of furniture remind me of all of my childhood clothes. My parents
dressed me almost exclusively in Bugle Boy from 1988 to 1995.

I thought I was rid of this nightmare.

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cbm-vic-20
"Excuse me, are those Bugle Boy Jeans you're wearing?"

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ubertakter
Forgive the tangent:

...

    
    
      I once had a pair of bugle boy pants
      and I wore them into a gas station
      and this story has nothing to do with waffles
      but the lady at the gas station said,
      "By any chance are those bugle boy pants you're wearing?"
      and I said "Why yes they are"
    
      And that's the real story of this song
    
      You gotta wear pants to get waffles
      You gotta wear pants to get waffles
      they said no shoes, no service
      but if you don't wear pants
      you'll get thrown out on your ass
    

(From my band's song "Waffles"... no good recordings of it exist though)

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mturmon
> The upcoming Sotheby’s auction includes a few other items that predate the
> movement, like Bowie’s red Olivetti from 1969, as well as the full breadth
> of Memphis output, from a 1981 “Nefertiti” tea set by Matteo Thun to a 1986
> “Big Sur” sofa by Peter Shire.

The article features a big pic of Peter Shire’s iconic sofa.

Peter is one of the original awesome guys of the LA art world. He has kept a
studio in Echo Park for years, and he has a holiday open house where you can
buy some of his smaller objects. His studio website seems down, but here’s his
feed:
[https://www.instagram.com/petershire/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/petershire/?hl=en),
and some pictures from his studio: [http://www.yoshimakino.us/work/artist-
visit-2/](http://www.yoshimakino.us/work/artist-visit-2/)

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bschne
Looking at some of Ettore Sottsass' earlier industrial design work he did for
Olivetti (e.g. the Valentine typewriter or the Divisumma calculator), and then
at his Memphis Milano stuff, it almost seems like he woke up one day a bit
bored and decided to go completely nuts from now on.

Not sure it's true bot I recall reading somewhere that the goal with Memphis
Milano was to apply the colors and forms of abstract painting to furniture
design.

The Carlton bookcase is... quite something.

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Tepix
The title was altered from the original article. Unfortunately, the new title
features the wrong apostrophe character (a left single quotation mark was used
instead of the correct right single quotation mark). So it’s »‘« instead of
»’«.

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jedimastert
Also, why use directional quotation marks at all? I don't see the need here

