В 1981 году в своей квартире в Милане, прослушивая песни Боба Дилана «Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again», итальянский архитектор Эторе Соттсасс, создает группу единомышленников, которая объединяла творчество итальянцев Микеле Де Лукки, Алессандро Медини, Андрэ Бранзи, японцев Широ Кураматы и Массанори Умеды, а также австрийца Ханса Холляйна, американца Питера Шир и испанца Хавьера Марискаля.
Группа просуществовала всего 7 лет с 1981 до 1988 года. Стиль «Мемфис» был анархичен и преследовал в основном цели свободного самовыражения дизайнера. Основной принцип противопоставление «хорошему вкусу». Новый стиль сразу же начал претендовать на звание «нового международного стиля».
Focusing on everyday life and trying to completely restructure the concept of a "classic" home, the Memphis group moved a colored laminate from bars, cafes and other public places to residential buildings, introducing a complete anarchy in design. Comics, collages, frames from cult films, elements of punk culture were actively used in the decor. The revolutionaries and innovators in the design of the end of the last millennium, the Memphis group created the design boom of the 80s, which led to a noticeable increase in their role in modern business politics. At this time, the pace of technological development of society accelerated significantly, and design became the head of all cultural changes.
The Memphis style turned to the development of pop art, kitsch of the 50s, criticized the absurdity of the “good taste” design, in which he put freedom of creative potential. Sensationalism, bold graphics, hippie culture, surrealism, a game of contrasts, colorfulness, freakishness and unpredictability of form, paradoxical mixture of inexpensive materials ... .. Everything mixed up, a new form appeared, inspired by the scientific discoveries of that time, new technological and, at the same time, cheap ones were used materials. In the design of interiors, the most commonly used laminate was defiantly bright colors, with a pattern “under the snake skin”, “under the skin of a leopard”, “under the turtle” or with geometric motifs.
The memphis style embraced not only the interior fashion. In 1984, posters from Art Aid were commissioned by curator Fredrick Wildhagen. These works of graphic designers recognized as "the best example of graphic design in 1984". Today, these posters are exhibited in museums of contemporary art in Denmark and Amsterdam.
