George J. Sowden was born in Leeds, UK in 1942. Leeds ( is located on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England He studied architecture at Gloucestershire College of Art in the 1960’s. He moved to Milano in 1970 where he started working with Ettore Sottsass and Olivetti. Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. Ettore Sottsass ( 14 September 1917 &ndash 31 December 2007) was an Innsbruck -born Italian Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA, known as Olivetti, is an Italian manufacturer of Computers printers and other business machines In 1981, he was one of the co-founders[1] of the Memphis Group, the design movement that had a significant impact on design aesthetics in the eighties. The Memphis Group was an influential Italian Design and Architecture movement of the 1980s
The same year he founded his design studio, SowdenDesign, and has since collaborated with numerous world famous companies, such as Olivetti, Alessi, Bodum, Guzzini, Lorenz, Rancilio, Steelcase, Swatch, Segis, Memphis, IPM , Moulinex, Telecom_Italia, Tefal and Pyrex. Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA, known as Olivetti, is an Italian manufacturer of Computers printers and other business machines Alessi is an Italian Kitchenware company Its designs of everyday and household items are generally created in colorful plastics and stainless steel Rancilio is an Espresso machine manufacturer founded in 1927 by Roberto Rancilio in Parabiago, Milan, Italy. Steelcase ( is an international Office furniture company It was founded in 1912 in Grand Rapids Michigan as The Metal Office Furniture Company. Swatch is a brand name for a line of wrist watches from the Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate with vertical control of the production of Swiss watches and related products The Memphis Group was an influential Italian Design and Architecture movement of the 1980s Telecom Italia () is the largest Italian Telephone company. Now a private company it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications Tefal is a French cookware and small appliance manufacturer owned by Groupe SEB. Pyrex is a brand name for glassware introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915
George Sowden has received numerous awards including, in 1991, the prestigious ADI Compasso d'Oro Award for design excellence Olivetti, Fax OFX420. Compasso d'Oro is the name of an Industrial Design Award originated in Italy in 1954 by the La Rinascente company from Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA, known as Olivetti, is an Italian manufacturer of Computers printers and other business machines
References
- Baacke, R. -P. , Brandes, U. , & Erlhoff, M. , Design als Gegenstand: der neue Glanz der Dinge (Frölich & Kaufmann, Berlin, 1983) ISBN 3-88725-008-7
- Barbara Radice, Memphis: research, experiences, results, failures, and successes of new design (Rizzoli, New York, 1984) ISBN 0-8478-0569-7
- Silvia Katz, Classic plastics: from bakelite to high-tech : with a collector's guide. (Thames and Hudson, London, 1984) ISBN 0-500-01347-0
- Andrea Branzi, The hot house: Italian new wave design (Thames and Hudson, London, 1984) ISBN 0-500-27348-0
- Penny Sparke, Design in Italy: 1870 to the present (Abbeville Press, New York, 1988) ISBN 0-89659-884-5
- M. Andrea Branzi (born 1938 is an architect and designer Biography Branzi was born in Florence, where he also graduated in architecture Penny Sparke (born 1948 has written 15 books about Twentieth-Century Design Collins, A. Papadakēs , Post-modern design (Rizzoli, New York, 1989) ISBN 0-8478-1136-0
- British Design & Art Direction in collaboration with RotoVision, The product book (Crans-près-Céligny, Switzerland, 1999) ISBN 2-88046-394-7
- Fiell, C. , Fiell, P. , Haag, C. , & Safavi, P. , Designing the 21st century. (Taschen, Koln, 2001) ISBN 3-8228-5883-8
- Peter Zac, Who's who in design. Vol. 2. (AVedition, Stuttgart, 2003) ISBN 3-89986-002-2
- Terence Conran, Max Fraser, Designers on design (Conran Octopus, London, 2004) ISBN 1-8409-1400-9
- Fiell, Charlotte, and Peter Fiell. Sir Terence Orby Conran (born 4 October 1931) is an English Designer, Restaurateur, Retailer and Writer. , 1000 Lights. Vol. 2 (Taschen, Koln, 2005) ISBN 3-8228-2475-5
External Links
- George Sowden's Official site
- Biography from 'Art and Culture'
- Biography from 'Design Concious'
- Biography on 'Future Design Days'
- Biography on 'Ketterer Kunst Gallery'
- Design samples on 'Artnet'
- Design samples on 'Unica Home'
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