The Preferred Design Line of David Bowie
A collection of more than 100 objects reveals one design firm as the predilection of David Bowie.
The presence of an eccentricity is likely expressed in every part of one’s reality. A manner of dressing, words chosen, daily habits, the people one frequents, and still more. To put it plainly, eccentricity is a philosophy of life, even a kind of nature.
One of the personalities who embodied eccentricity radiantly was David Bowie. Among the many choices he made regarding style is a little known but important passion for collecting furniture and decorative objects from a design firm known as the Memphis Group.
The Memphis Group emerged in Italy in the early 1980s as a group of designers led by Ettore Sottsass. His style, rich in colors and extravagant forms, mixed elements of pop art, kitsch and art deco, and drew the attention of colleagues, critics, and collectors of the time. In the postmodernism of the day, the Memphis Group could perhaps be understood as one of the most outstanding collective efforts. Anecdotally speaking, the group’s connection with music, began with its name, a reference to the Bob Dylan song, “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again.”
The fact that Bowie was one of the great collectors of the group’s work was made public only after his death. This was due to an auction organized by Sotheby’s House in London a few months ago. According to the auction catalog, Bowie owned more than 100 objects from designers including Sottsass himself, Marco Zanini and Nathalie du Pasquier.
Beyond the biographical and historical value of the collection, perhaps the most remarkable thing is the realization of the congruence with which some people follow their chosen paths in life, even if that path is eccentric. Or perhaps especially when it is.
Related Articles
When ancient rituals became religion
The emergence of religions irreversibly changed the history of humanity. It’s therefore essential to ask when and how did ancient peoples’ rituals become organized systems of thought, each with their
Seven ancient maps of the Americas
A map is not the territory. —Alfred Korzybski Maps are never merely maps. They’re human projections, metaphors in which we find both the geographical and the imaginary. The cases of ghost islands
An artist crochets a perfect skeleton and internal organs
Shanell Papp is a skilled textile and crochet artist. She spent four long months crocheting a life-size skeleton in wool. She then filled it in with the organs of the human body in an act as patient
A musical tribute to maps
A sequence of sounds, rhythms, melodies and silences: music is a most primitive art, the most essential, and the most powerful of all languages. Its capacity is not limited to the (hardly trivial)
The enchantment of 17th-century optics
The sense of sight is perhaps one the imagination’s most prolific masters. That is why humankind has been fascinated and bewitched by optics and their possibilities for centuries. Like the heart, the
Would you found your own micro-nation? These eccentric examples show how easy it can be
Founding a country is, in some ways, a simple task. It is enough to manifest its existence and the motives for creating a new political entity. At least that is what has been demonstrated by the
Wondrous crossings: the galaxy caves of New Zealand
Often, the most extraordinary phenomena are “jealous of themselves” ––and they happen where the human eye cannot enjoy them. However, they can be discovered, and when we do find them we experience a
Think you have strange reading habits? Wait until you've seen how Mcluhan reads
We often forget or neglect to think about the infinite circumstances that are condensed in the acts that we consider habitual. Using a fork to eat, for example, or walking down the street and being
The sky is calling us, a love letter to the cosmos (video)
We once dreamt of open sails and Open seas We once dreamt of new frontiers and New lands Are we still a brave people? We must not forget that the very stars we see nowadays are the same stars and
The sister you always wanted (but made into a crystal chandelier)
Lucas Maassen always wanted to have a sister. And after 36 years he finally procured one, except, as strange as it may sound, in the shape of a chandelier. Maassen, a Dutch designer, asked the