In a career that spanned seven decades, product designer and architect Ettore Sottsass inspired, provoked, surprised, and amused us with his pioneering ideas and quirky objects. His death on December 31, 2007, at the age of 90, marks the loss of a truly original force.

Sottsass is often credited with helping make Italy the center of the design world during the second half of the 20th century. He was part of a generation that included Achille Castiglioni, Vico Magistretti, Bruno Munari, and Marco Zanuso, who transformed the design of everyday objects from an anonymous endeavor into something joyous. He designed a Pop Art-inspired red typewriter for Olivetti, in 1969, as well as produced countless whimsical objects in glass and ceramic. Often he pushed the limits of taste, as with his anti-functionalist cabinets and bookcases screaming with brightly-laminated surfaces and slanted shelves. He waited until he was close to 70 years old before designing 20 or so eccentric private residences from Maui to Silicon Valley, and he offered visitors an unexpected welcome to his own adopted city of Milan with his decidedly un-airport-like interiors at Malpensa International Airport, completed in 2000.