Murmansk Fruit Dish, 1982
Rossi & Arcandi, Italy

Designer
Ettore Sottsass

Material
Silverplated metal

Dimensions
Ø 35,2 cm, H 30,5 cm

The "Murmansk" fruit bowl is one of the first designs produced by Sottsass for Memphis, the group of Italian designers and architects formed in 1981 to create alternatives to the prevailing modernism of the postwar era.

This shallow, sleek bowl of glistening silver sitting on six stepped legs evokes the exotic city of Murmansk in the northernmost region of Russia—a city of isolation and icy coldness. The fruit bowl, however, is also a work of great beauty, desirable for its usefulness and elegant design.