Back in 1973, Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass partnered with Barcelona Design for a number of projects with the fledgling firm. Among them was “Shiva,” a vase which symbolizes “a modern piece of fertility.”
Ettore Sottsass posing with “Shiva.”
The vase, which the firm jokingly told Dezeen may have been inspired by Sottsass’ frequent visits with his girlfriend at the time, became a staple of the company and is still produced today. Sottsass can be seen posing with the vase in one of his portraits. In 2005, two years before Sottsass’ death, the firm produced a gold prototype of “Shiva” as an award for a national competition of design students.
The firm recently created a limited run of 50 “Shiva” vases in gold, a departure from the suggestive (overt, really) vase’s original flesh tone.
Bill Rodgers is a Contributing Editor at CFile.
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Earlier incarnations of “Shiva” by Ettore Sottsass.
It is listed as design not art.
how is this art?
how is this not art its the embodiment of male ingenuity