阿基米亞和孟菲斯·設(shè)計色彩

文/ Cinzia Ferrara（意大利 菲拉拉巴勒莫大學 建筑系）譯/陳 欣 鄭 慧

While some challenged and disapproved of what the design field did in the 1970s and 1980s, it was able to count on fertile ground full of people who were prepared to take risks and show visionary – and sometimes utopian –courage. This outlook was welcomed and shared not only by designers themselves, who joined together in collectives and studios, but also by their clients, with the worlds of manufacturing and business. Efforts were made to create synergies both by designers who kept a close eye on the world of industrial production and by companies which realized the importance of maintaining relations with the world of design.Poltronova1The Tuscan furniture manufacturer appointed Ettore Sottsass as its art director in 1957 and it also worked with Superstudio and Archizoom. It supported experimentation by the designers, which led to the creation of new forms (sometimes bringing about new types of furniture, such as the Superbox line) through the use of new materials (such as plastic laminates) and the establishment of authentic new vocabulary.and Abet Print2This Piedmontese manufacturer is now known as Abet Laminati. It uses different colours and decorative elements to produce an endless range of plastic laminates. The company was founded in the late of 1950s and it worked with figures including Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Mario Bellini, Enzo Mari and Joe Colombo.led the way in this sense.

They had diff erent takes on the irreplaceable role of companies, which contributed to the development of Italian design and gave it concrete form through its production work.This occurred thanks to the joint presence of three main elements/factors: modern materials and technology, companies with great foresight,and visionary designers. Within the field of manufacturing, it was common to fi nd a shared approach that made it possible to go from an idea to production. Outside the fi eld, this process was aided by widespread interest and international recognition of Italian design,which was deemed worthy of entering the hallowed ground of museums, including those on the other side of the Atlantic. This waseven the case with the more rebellious design output of the time1In 1972, Emilio Ambasz organized a large exhibition on Italian design at MoMA in New York that was entitled ‘Italy: The New Domestic Landscape’. Alchimia displayed some of its designs in the Bau-Haus exhibition in Milan in 1979. Memphis showed its first designs at the Arc ’74, a showroom in Milan, in 1981.. The ground was also made fertile for experimentation and manufacturing by technological innovation and by research and production of materials. Numerous new materials – such as plastics, foams and resins– were introduced onto the market, and there were also many fi nishes, processing techniques and tones for them, which became an area of investigation for design. There were many combinations of diff erent synthetic and natural materials to be found in the most provocative projects by Alchimia and Memphis. These pairings rarely followed convention, were farfetched at times and were often daring. In their spirit, they brought to mind the earlier experiments of the Bauhaus, in the search for new expressive forms through a deliberate lack of continuity in the objects made. The materials employed in the more experimental design during the period in question were artificial, composites, natural and unusual,because they were used in a completely diff erent context from their normal setting. They were industrial materials such as galvanized sheet metal, aluminium, neon tubes, printed glass and celluloid. The open-minded search for these materials involved investigation of their inherent sensory qualities and it took place for Memphis ‘…within germinating cultures,where signs still have an element of sexiness and a bittersweet fl avour about them and they off er pleasant, surprising thrills because they still totter hesitantly in a sort of antenatal limbo,since they have yet to be fi lled with symbols and meanings’ (Radice, 1984, p.67). This discussion of materials may seem to stray from the topic of Memphis and Alchimia’s use of colour and the value that they attributed to it.

Fig.2 laminati2 Laminated, texture and colour, Abet Print,historical collection of Poltronova, ’70.

Fig.2 Alchimia, stilemi.Alchimia, Stilemi.1982

Fig.18 george-nelson-marshmallow00_1clock George Nelson e Irving Harper, Marshmallow,sofa, Herman Miller, 1956.

Fig.19 george-nelson-ball-clock George Nelson, Ball, clock, Howard Miller Clock Company, 1947 (ca.).

However, their colours were profound and they penetrated the fi bres of both synthetic and natural materials, completely fi lling them.

Rather than just serving as a simple medium,the material gave substance to the chromatic mass, whether it was two- or threedimensional.‘The first definition of colour is this sort of abstraction and impalpability. However, there is also colour that becomes material, and at fi rst sight it is very often a superfi cial material.Then there are other colours that are solid and heavy: a block of basalt is black all the way through. Colour becomes mass, material and substance’ (Mendini, 2004, p.293). In order to gain a complete understanding of the work of Alchimia and Memphis, it is necessary to consider the historical backdrop at the time of their formation.

An important role was played by the spread of the pop culture1The culture’s origins lie in Pop Art, which appeared on the Italian scene in 1964 at the Venice Biennale, where the works of American artists from the movement were displayed.in Italy and with it the consumer culture and the means of expression of mass communication. Archigram in the UK and Metabolism in Japan used this culture as input for their design work, and it was in this form that it was fi rst encountered by young Italian designers, who joined together in a number of avant-garde groups2Examples include Archizoom, UFO, 9999 and Superstudio.. They soon moved on from emulation and developed the capacity to experiment and design independently, in stark contrast with the academic culture and its tired aesthetic principles. They loudly demanded immediate adaptation to a new situation through a utopian outlook, which provided the starting point for work and was used in a critical and realistic manner (Branzi, 1983, p.48). Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass were the respective leaders of the Alchimia (1979) and Memphis(1981) groups, which followed the path already marked out by Italian Radical Design and brought about genuine pacifi c and obstinate cultural revolutions thanks to visionary capabilities which allowed them to join together the past and the present, the natural and the artifi cial, the archetype and the copy, tradition and innovation, and even – in their intentions at least – the aristocratic and the common.They differed from the Radical groups that preceded them in their capacity to deal not only with the design process itself, but also with the other paradigms3The paradigms of industrial design are generally summed up by the following four elements: design, production, sale, consumption (De Fusco, 1985).associated with it by Renato De Fusco. They managed to ‘tame’ the great utopia and make it into a malleable material for industrial production that was highly symbolic even though it was trapped in a designed form.Furthermore, they managed to embrace the lesson of design primario (leading design),which went beyond the vision of the designed object that could be broken down into a form,structure and function. In their vision, they also included the world of sensory perception, so the body was no longer seen as a purely passive receptor that was dominated by reason: it became an active tool of cultural elaboration. In 1977, Clino Castelli drew the ‘Sweet diagram of Gretl’1The diagram was based on a study of the hall in the only building designed by Ludwig Wittgenstein (together with Paul Engelmann, a pupil of Adolf Loos), which he planned for his sister Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein in Vienna between 1926 and 1928. The diagram shows and gives measurements for all of the immaterial volumes in the space, which are defined by the masses of light, heat, smell, sound, and colour., which contained data recorded through the parameters of subjective perception in order to establish the objective environmental quality of inhabited space. If the parameters change, so must the design tools (as covered by design primario), which act as paradigmatic systems containing elements to support design without restraining it in any way. An example is Colordinamo2The manual was designed by Andrea Branzi, Clino T.Castelli and Massimo morozzi and produced for the Montefibre Design Centre in 1975. The two subsequent editions (which were backed by many companies, including Abet Print, Ariston, Bassetti, B&B, Kartell, Zanotta and Zucchi)were published in 1976 and 1977.(Morozzi, Branzi, Castelli, 1977),a manual for professional use based on colour studies. It is an important aesthetic research project that takes the form of a colour chart. It contains 40 hues chosen around a central theme3The themes chosen for the creation of the colour ranges in the three editions of Colordinamo were:‘the colours of energy’ in 1975, ‘presynthetic colours’ in 1976, and‘permanent colours’ in 1977., which are accompanied by technical and cultural information and tools for their use. The three editions of the manual are unlike other publications of their kind as they focus on a theme rather than anticipating matters.

Fig.21 Michele De Lucchi,home appliances,lacquered wood prototypes made for the Milan Triennale, Memphis, 1979.

Fig.27 Michele De Lucchi, Lido, armchair, Laminato Print HPL, Memphis, 1982.

Fig.28 Peter Shire, Bel Air, armchair,Memphis,1982.

Fig.33 Nathalie Nathalie du Pasquier, fabric, Memphis, 1981.

They were distributed throughout Europe and made an important, innovative contribution to colour design, while introducing Italians to the Munsell system and colorimetry. ‘The colours of energy’ from the palette of the fi rst edition of Colordinamo were the result of thermal imaging of objects in which colours were used to show the measurable levels of heat and energy, thus giving ranges of warm and cold hues. The readings of colours were not given by their natural values. Instead, tools and media reprocessed and reproduced them, giving what Andrea Branzi (1983) called ‘the colour of colour’ (p.81).

The ‘Colours of energy’ came along before the colour range that would become known through the introduction of colour television in Italy in 1977, with the original tones being reproduced using the three additive primary colours (red, blue and green) on screens with complex pixels. The parameters changed, the tools changed and so did the colours, which were seen by designers as an independent system with their own cultural and expressive identity4This Identity, which has an active influence on the quality of the products and the environment, has a value which is largely separate from the function of the object and the material with which it is built: it is more of a cultural added value, which makes up a genuine new environmental culture.(Morozzi, Branzi, Castelli, 1977). The colours that were used during this period were the result of developments in the chemical industry and research in the field of plastic materials and paints. This research led to the introduction onto the market of a number and range of colours that not only allowed designers to count on artifi cial hues, but also to choose and design colours, like any other component of an object.

Colour went from being a final element to complete a project to a ‘semi-processed good’, or even a cell5‘We have almost reached the point where we study the cells that make up objects more than objects themselves as individual entities.Materials and decorative elements are the cells of objects and they are part of this process.’ This statement by Michele De Lucchi can be extended to colour, which was considered an integral part of the molecular structure of the object (Radice, 1984, p. 87), which played a part in every step of the design process, just like the form and materials.

Fig.30 nathalie-du-pasquier-1982-gabon Nathalie du Pasquier, fabric,Memphis, 1981.

Alchimia’s1The Alchimia studio was founded in Milan in 1976. Alessandro and Adriana Guerriero (neither of whom are architects) were the driving force behind its creation and they were joined by Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, Lapo Binazzi, Franco Raggi and Michele De Lucchi.research immediately focused on the surface, ‘the skin’ of the object, through the use of colour and the revival of decoration.

Instead of a reassuring tool to give a ‘warm’appearance and feel to the cold, artificial surfaces of objects, it was an operative tool that prevented things from being taken for granted and introduced ambiguity,irony and provocation alongside material and colour processes.The decoration that Mendini called a ‘form of visual writing’ was a means of amplifying colour and making the surface ‘optically descriptive’, sensitive and communicative. The Memphis2The Memphis group was founded by Ettore Sottsass Jr. in 1981 and it brought together architects and designers such as Martine Bedin,Matteo Thun, Michele De Lucchi, Andrea Branzi, Marco Zanini, Aldo Cibic, George Sowden and Natalie Du Pasquier,some of whom (Sottsass and De Lucchi) had already been part of Alchimia. It was initially called The New Design, then it adopted the name of the American city of Memphis, a place of music, the cultural melting pot, rebellion and the new world, after the release of the Bob Dylan song Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, which the group of designers listened to repeatedly in Sottsass’ studio on Via San Galdino in Milan.group started to design without favouring any specifi c style,form, colour or texture. They experimented and blended all kinds of genres, shapes, materials3They chose modest coated composite materials that rejected the comforting notion of furniture that would last over time in favour of a contemporary view of furniture with a limited lifespan, like that of the people that chose, used and consumed it.and colours. Countless references can be seen in the use of colour in Memphis projects, including:the expressive power of industrial and synthetic colours and the fl uorescent and acrylic hues of pop art; the multi-coloured design of George Nelson4Sottsass worked in his study for a month during a stay in America in 1956.; the colours of India5Sottsass and his wife Fernanda Pivano visited India in 1961 during a long trip that lasted three months.cular structure of the object (Radice, 1984, p. 87; the colour trialled in the Superbox furniture/containers6The items of furniture were originally designed and made as little models and appeared in the article Katalogo mobili (Trini, 1966). They were subsequently made by Poltronova, but the company only produced the most simple models in the range of containers.; and the experience with Olivetti, which led to the creation of the Valentine (1968), which will always stand out due to its impudent poppy red colour. ‘Alchimia always expressed itself in a problematic, multidisciplinary manner and its work revolved around doubt, criticism and self-criticism. Memphis chose the path of a strong, calm, reassuring, establishment image’ (Mendini, 2004, p.94). Alchimia and Memphis have a lot in common. They both designed highly experimental objects with great narrative and symbolic power that were made in extremely small production runs. However,there are also many significant differences between them. Strangely, the use of colour and decoration is both a common feature and an area where they diff ered hugely. For both groups it was a central, important part of the design process for objects/goods, which were given artifi cial tones with electronic, chemical and modern colours. However, for Alchimia the use of colour and decoration took on an almost pictorial value with greater ties to the creative language of humans, whereas for Memphis it had a mechanical feel that was connected to the programmed language of machines.One could talk about the profoundness of the superfi cial by Alchimia and the superfi ciality of the profound by Memphis, to use and mirror an expression by Mendini (1981). It is impossible to conceive of an item by Alchimia or Memphis being deprived of its colour and reduced to a mortifying black and white shadow of itself.The two groups made colour into a fully fl edged design material with great narrative capabilities.It was an essential component whose absence would be felt like an amputated limb rather than just an unexpected blanching eff ect. ‘For me, a colour is like a word. Colours are words.Stories can be told with colours and colours tell stories’ (Sottsass, 2007, pp.47-48).

Fig.31 memphis_nathalie du pasquier Nathalie du Pasquier, fabric,Memphis, 1981.

Fig.31 Memphis-Milano_Design_Collection A setting furnished with items by Memphis.

譯文:

盡管八九十年代的設(shè)計領(lǐng)域所獲得的成就受到過挑戰(zhàn)和質(zhì)疑，但有著大批人才活躍在這塊沃土之上，這些人勇于承擔風險，有著卓越的遠見以及——有時有些烏托邦式的——勇氣。這種觀點不僅受到那些參與團體工作和成立工作室的設(shè)計師們的歡迎和擁躉，同時也受到全球制造業(yè)和商業(yè)界人士的青睞。設(shè)計師們密切注意著世界的工業(yè)生產(chǎn)，公司企業(yè)提高了意識，與設(shè)計界保持緊密聯(lián)系，兩者企圖打造聯(lián)合效應。家具制造商Poltronova1Poltronova 是一家意大利托斯卡納的家具制造商，在1957年任命埃托雷·索特薩斯為其藝術(shù)總監(jiān),開始與超級工作室（Superstudio）和阿基佐姆小組（Archizoom）合作。和Abet印刷廠2Abet Laminati是一家意大利皮埃蒙特的家具制造商。它善于使用不同的顏色和裝飾元素來設(shè)計出無窮無盡的塑料層壓板。該公司成立于1950年代后期,曾與眾多設(shè)計大家合作,包括埃托雷·索特薩斯、亞歷山德羅·門迪尼、馬里奧·貝里尼,恩佐·馬里和喬·科倫坡。的合作是該方面的杰出代表。

在成立公司的基礎(chǔ)上，他們各取所需，這樣的模式更好地發(fā)展了意大利的設(shè)計，并使設(shè)計得以以產(chǎn)品的形式穩(wěn)固成形。現(xiàn)代材料與科技，擁有遠見的公司和充滿想象力的設(shè)計師，三者聯(lián)袂促成了這樣的發(fā)展模式。將想法轉(zhuǎn)化成產(chǎn)品的渠道相同，這樣的事情在生產(chǎn)領(lǐng)域內(nèi)十分普遍。在該領(lǐng)域外，人們對設(shè)計的廣泛興趣和國際對意大利設(shè)計的認可也助長了創(chuàng)意的萌芽。它們甚至被認為可以擺放到包括大西洋另一邊在內(nèi)的那些神圣的博物館里去。隨著越來越多大膽前衛(wèi)的設(shè)計的出現(xiàn)3，這一切顯得越發(fā)理所當然。科技的改革，材料的研發(fā)和生產(chǎn)，使得實驗與制造擁有了更加肥沃而寬廣的設(shè)計空間。大量的新型材料被引入市場，例如塑料、泡沫和樹脂，加上成品、制造工藝和色調(diào)運用的不同，都成為了設(shè)計的研究對象。阿基米亞和孟菲斯正努力尋找著各種由合成物與自然材料相結(jié)合的新鮮刺激的玩意兒。這些組合從不循規(guī)蹈矩，有時牽強附會，更常常大膽離奇。他們繼承了包豪斯建筑學派的精神，故意使物品缺少連續(xù)性，從而來尋找新的表達形式。在實驗性的討論期間，所選用的材料既有人工的、合成的以及自然材料，也有些不同尋常的材料，因為使用它們的場合非比尋常。有如鍍鋅金屬片、呂、霓虹燈管、印刷玻璃和賽璐珞之類的工業(yè)材料。通過對這些材料內(nèi)在感官的研究來擴展它們的用途，并且孟菲斯“...在文化萌芽的階段，符號仍帶有性元素和苦中帶甜的味道，它們也給人帶來愉悅和刺激，因為它們在被冠以象征和意義之前，仍舊在某種出生前的狀態(tài)中踟躕蹣跚?！保ɡ椎纤?，1984，p.67）。關(guān)于材料的討論似乎偏離了孟菲斯與阿基米亞對于色彩的使用以及他們對顏色所做出的貢獻的主題。

然而，他們對色彩的掌握透徹深刻，對人造纖維和自然材料的特性洞若觀火，將它們?nèi)跁炌ā?/p>

這些材料無論二維還是三維，相比作為簡單的媒介，它們都更像是色彩的大雜燴。

“色彩首先給人的印象是抽象而不可感知的，但也有轉(zhuǎn)化成材料的顏色，通常乍一眼看來都是很普通的材料。有一些材料堅固而厚重，如玄武巖通身發(fā)黑。顏色成了形，成了材料和物質(zhì)?！保系夏荩?004，p293）。想要更加全面地了解阿基米亞與孟菲斯的作品，知道他們組建的背景則非常有必要。

流行文化4這種文化起源于波普藝術(shù)（Pop Art）,最早出現(xiàn)在1964年威尼斯雙年展的意大利展區(qū)。雙年展展出了激進設(shè)計運動中美國藝術(shù)家的作品。在意大利的傳播起到了相當大的作用，并隨之產(chǎn)生了消費者文化和各種通訊交流工具。英國的建筑電訊派和日本的新陳代謝主義將這種文化輸入進他們的設(shè)計作品中，許多意大利設(shè)計家在這樣的形勢下與之邂逅，并加入了許多先鋒派小組1設(shè)計前衛(wèi)組織包括超級工作室（Superstudio）和阿基佐姆小組（Archizoom）,UFO,9999等等。。不久，他們就從單純的模仿成長為自身擁有能力進行獨立的實驗和設(shè)計的設(shè)計師，與其學術(shù)文化以及疲軟的審美原則形成了鮮明對比。他們懷揣著烏托邦的理想，想要盡快轉(zhuǎn)變，形成新的格局。于是，人們用更加苛刻而現(xiàn)實的眼光，開始了新的設(shè)計工作（布蘭茨，1983，p48）。亞歷山德羅·門迪尼（Alessandro Mendini ）和埃塔·索特薩斯（ Ettore Sottsass ）分別是阿基米亞（1979）和孟菲斯（1981）的領(lǐng)導人，延續(xù)意大利激進設(shè)計的道路。通過他們的遠見，過去與現(xiàn)代，自然和人工，原型和仿制品，傳統(tǒng)與革新甚至——至少在意圖中體現(xiàn)出的——貴族與平民相互融合在了一起，從而掀起了一場平和而又持久的文化改革浪潮。激進組織與他們不同，不僅擁有更加出色的設(shè)計能力，該組織的雷納托·德·弗斯科（Renato De Fusco.）還將其與其他范式2工業(yè)設(shè)計的模式一般是以下四個元素的總和:設(shè)計、生產(chǎn)、銷售、消費(De Fusco,1985)。聯(lián)系在了一起。他們成功“馴服”了偉大的烏托邦主義，并將其轉(zhuǎn)化為工業(yè)生產(chǎn)所需要的可鍛造的素材，這些產(chǎn)品即使被賦予了設(shè)計形態(tài)，仍極富象征意義。除此以外，他們成功地掌控了新興市場（潮流設(shè)計）的走向，在那里，設(shè)計作品已經(jīng)突破了自身，成為可以細分成形式、架構(gòu)和功用的產(chǎn)品。在他們的設(shè)想中，他們還要將感官體驗引入進來，從而讓身體不再是受到理性左右的接收器，它變成了主動對文化進行闡述的工具。在1977年，克里諾·卡斯蒂利（Clino Castelli）繪制了“格萊特舒適圖”3這個圖是基于路德維?！ぞS特根斯坦所設(shè)計的唯一一座建筑物大廳的研究。這個建筑是維特根斯坦于1926-1928年間替他的姐姐和保羅·恩格爾曼--阿道夫·盧斯的學生共同設(shè)計的。，通過對主觀感受參數(shù)數(shù)據(jù)的記錄，從而得出棲居地的客觀環(huán)境質(zhì)量。一旦參數(shù)發(fā)生改變，設(shè)計工具也必將發(fā)生變化（即在新興市場上所廣泛使用的工具），這種工具作為范例體系包含了支持設(shè)計而絕不局限它的元素。《色彩動力機》4這是基于對空間里的所有非物質(zhì)（包括光、熱、氣味、聲音和色彩）的測量數(shù)據(jù)結(jié)果的圖。這份手冊是由 Andrea Branzi, Clino T.Castelli and Massimo morozzi 于1975為了Montefibre設(shè)計中心而設(shè)計的。在眾多著名公司的支持下，包括 Abet Print, Ariston, Bassetti, B&B, Kartell, Zanotta and Zucchi，1976年和1977年又出版了兩個后續(xù)版本。（莫利慈、布蘭茨、卡斯特利，1997）是一本基于色彩研究供專業(yè)用途的小冊子。這是一項重要的美學研究，以彩色圖表的形式呈現(xiàn)。它包含40種圍繞著一個主題5三個版本的Colordinamo的小冊子所選擇的主題分別是：“能量的色彩”（1975）“合成前的色彩”（1976）“永久的色彩”（1977）（即"the colours of energy","pre-synthetic colours","permanent colours"）。選取的顏色，附帶有技術(shù)和文化信息和工具供其使用。三個版本的小冊子與其他同類型的刊物不同，它們關(guān)注一個主題而非期待中的事物。

Fig.40 Memphis-Milano_Movement A setting furnished with items by Memphis.

它們對整個歐洲都做出了貢獻，并將蒙賽爾體系和比色法引進意大利，對色彩設(shè)計做出了重要、富有創(chuàng)新意義的貢獻，來自《色彩動力機》第一個版本顏料的“能量的色彩”是物體熱量成像的結(jié)果，色彩用來體現(xiàn)熱量高低程度，因此能夠呈現(xiàn)一系列冷暖色調(diào)。這種色彩的反映并非來自物體本身的自然屬性，而是通過工具盒媒體重新處理和再生成了它們，這被阿德里亞·布蘭茨（Andrea Branzi）稱為“色彩的色彩”（p81）.

1997年意大利引入彩色電視機以后，色域才為人所知。在此之前，‘Colours of energy’這個概念早已出現(xiàn)。從那以后，參數(shù)改變了，工具改變了，顏色也會隨之改變。設(shè)計師們把這些作為一個有特定文化身份，極富表現(xiàn)力的獨立系統(tǒng)6這種身份對產(chǎn)品和環(huán)境的質(zhì)量有著積極的影響，它的價值很大程度上是獨立于物體的功能和物體本身的材料。它更多的是一種文化附加值,構(gòu)建了真正的新環(huán)境文化。(莫羅茲,布蘭奇,卡斯泰利,1977)。在此期間可供使用的顏色通常是化工行業(yè)的發(fā)展以及塑料材料和油漆領(lǐng)域的研究成果。這些研究促成種類繁多、范圍廣闊的色彩市場的形成?？晒┰O(shè)計師們選擇的色彩不再局限于人工色彩，他們還可以像設(shè)計某個物體的零部件一般設(shè)計色彩。

色彩從完成一件作品的最終元素轉(zhuǎn)變成為一種“半成品”，甚至是作品的“細胞”1“比起研究物體作為獨立存在的實體，我們對構(gòu)成物體的細胞的研究更多。材料和裝飾元素是設(shè)計作品的細胞也是設(shè)計過程的一部分?！泵仔獱枴さ隆けR基的這句話也同樣適用于色彩，色彩也是設(shè)計作品不可分割的分子結(jié)構(gòu)。 (Radice, 1984, p. 87)。與形式和材料一樣，色彩參與設(shè)計的每一個步驟。通過使用色彩和復興裝飾，阿基米亞2阿基米亞工作室于1976年在米蘭成立。雖然亞歷山德羅和阿德里安·格歷日羅（Alessandro and Adriana Guerriero ），但是他們是其背后主要的推動力。工作室的成員還包括亞歷山德羅·門迪尼（Alessandro Mendini），埃托雷·索特薩斯（Ettore Sottsass），法蘭哥·拉吉（Franco Raggi）以及米歇爾·德·路奇（Michele De Lucchi.）。的設(shè)計師迅速集中對物體表面，或者說是物體的“皮膚”進行研究。

色彩不再是一種可靠的工具，使物體的人造表面給人們一種溫暖或者冷冰冰的感覺。而是一個有效的工具，改變?nèi)藗儗υO(shè)計作品那種想當然的態(tài)度，并和材料一起給作品加入了模糊、諷刺和挑釁的味道。設(shè)計大師設(shè)計大師亞歷山德羅·門迪尼稱裝飾是“視覺寫作的一種形式”，一種放大色彩、使物體表面可以用光學描述、可傳達信息的手段。孟菲斯3孟菲斯集團創(chuàng)立于1981年，創(chuàng)始人為埃托雷·索特薩斯。他召集了一群建筑師和設(shè)計師，如瑪?shù)倌取へ惗。∕artine Bedin），馬泰羅（Matteo Thun）,米歇爾·德·路奇（Michele De Lucchi）,安德里亞·布蘭奇（Andrea Branzi）,馬可·扎尼尼（Marco Zanini）,安東·西比克（Aldo Cibic）,喬治·索登（George Sowden）和娜塔莉·杜·帕斯奎 （Natalie Du Pasquie）。他們中的一些人(如索特薩斯和德·路奇)曾經(jīng)是阿基米亞設(shè)計組織的成員。這個集團最初的名字是新設(shè)計，后來才改成孟菲斯--美國城市的名稱。孟菲斯是音樂，文化大融合的城市，一個充滿叛逆氣息的新世界。改名主要是因為這群設(shè)計師們在索特薩斯的工作室中反復聆聽美國歌手鮑勃·迪倫的歌曲《困在汽車內(nèi)時孟菲斯藍調(diào)再次響起》（Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again）。集團的設(shè)計不偏袒任何特定的風格、形式、顏色或者紋理。他們嘗試將各種風格、形狀、材料4他們選擇了適度的涂層復合材料，反對家具可以無限使用的說法。與關(guān)于家具現(xiàn)代的觀點相同，即家具的使用壽命就像選擇，使用家具的消費者的生命一般有限。和顏色混搭在一起。孟菲斯集團的眾多設(shè)計作品的色彩運用都可以證明這一點。比如波普藝術(shù)中工業(yè)和合成顏色的表現(xiàn)張力與熒光和丙烯酸顏料的組合；喬治·納爾遜的五顏六色的設(shè)計5；印度色彩6；索塔薩斯設(shè)計的Superbox系列家具7Superbox系列的家具最先以小模型的形式出現(xiàn)在Katalogo mobili（1966）這篇文章中，隨后由Poltronova公司生產(chǎn)，但是這家公司只生產(chǎn)這一列容器中最簡單的模型。/容器艷麗的色彩；還有索特薩斯為奧利維蒂公司設(shè)計的“情人”(Valentine)便攜打字機(1968)，“紅”成經(jīng)典。阿基米亞設(shè)計集團總是以多學科，持懷疑態(tài)度的姿態(tài)出現(xiàn)，它的設(shè)計作品都圍繞著質(zhì)疑、批評和自我批評這樣的主題。而孟菲斯設(shè)計集團則樹立了堅強、鎮(zhèn)定、可靠的形象(門迪尼,2004年,p.94)。其實，阿基米亞和孟菲斯的設(shè)計有很多相同之處。他們的設(shè)計作品實驗性極高，敘事和象征力量極強，所以注定了設(shè)計作品不可以大批量生產(chǎn)的命運。但是二者也有很多較大的差異。奇怪的是,色彩的使用和裝飾既是設(shè)計中最平常的部分卻又是二者差別最大的方面。對于這兩個設(shè)計集團來說，色彩使用和裝飾都是設(shè)計過程的中心和重要內(nèi)容，人為地給予物體電子、化學和現(xiàn)代顏色。就阿基米亞而言，色彩的使用和裝飾更多體現(xiàn)在圖案的價值以及與人類創(chuàng)造性語言的聯(lián)系；而對孟菲斯來說，更多的是和機器的編程語言相關(guān)聯(lián)，給人一種機械化的感覺。人們可以談?wù)摪⒒讈喸O(shè)計膚淺的深刻性，也可以談?wù)撁戏扑乖O(shè)計深刻的膚淺性。這影射了門迪尼1981年提出的一個觀點。要欣賞阿基米亞或者孟菲斯的設(shè)計作品，卻全然不考慮物體的色彩或者將其簡化到影子的黑白色，這是萬萬不可的。這兩個設(shè)計組織都將色彩融入到極富敘事能力的材料中去。色彩是設(shè)計缺一不可的組成部分，少了色彩，作品將給人一種像殘肢的感覺，不僅僅只是像漂白后蒼白無力的感覺。“對我來說,一種顏色就是一個單詞。多種顏色可以構(gòu)成詞組、句子。故事可以通過顏色表達，顏色可以講故事”(索特薩斯,2007,pp.47-48)。