Libertarian and Anti-functionalist: What Is the Memphis Design Movement?

Far from the US state of Tennessee, the Memphis movement emerged in Milan in the 1980s and revolutionized design. Its gaudy colors, exaggerated patterns and conflicting prints were intended to overturn the minimalism status quo of the time, also contradicting the functionalist design postulated by the Bauhaus with its purely aesthetic and ornamental forms.

Libertarian and Anti-functionalist: What Is the Memphis Design Movement?
Memphis-Milano design collection 2010. By Dennis Zanone licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license Memphis-Milano design collection 2010. By Dennis Zanone licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Far from the US state of Tennessee, the Memphis movement emerged in Milan in the 1980s and revolutionized design. Its gaudy colors, exaggerated patterns and conflicting prints were intended to overturn the minimalism status quo of the time, also contradicting the functionalist design postulated by the Bauhaus with its purely aesthetic and ornamental forms.

Read more »