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Designer: George Sowden
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  • About
  • Items (26)
  • Auctions (19)

George Sowden
b. 1942

George Sowden is an industrial designer, known for his contributions to Memphis design in the 1980s and his work as an industrial designer for manufacturers such as Alessi and Olivetti. 

Our drawings and patterns are the result of our sensitivity and feelings about contemporary decoration. We do not look to the past for our inspiration. Pattern adds emotional interest and identity to interiors.

George Sowden

Three Things to know about George Sowden

In 2010, Sowden invented the SoftBrew, an innovative way to brew coffee and tea with a microfilter.

He worked on designing some of the first computers ever produced, while employed by Olivetti in the 1970s.

Together with his wife Nathalie Du Pasquier, Sowden worked on the textile series Post Crisis Collection for Zig Zag Zurich in 2018.

Auction Results George Sowden

George Sowden, d'Antibes cabinet

George Sowden

d'Antibes cabinet

estimate: $3,000–5,000

result: $8,438

George Sowden, Oppenheimer table clock from Objects for the Electronic Age

George Sowden

Oppenheimer table clock from Objects for the Electronic Age

estimate: $2,000–3,000

result: $5,250

George Sowden, d'Antibes cabinet

George Sowden

d'Antibes cabinet

estimate: $4,000–6,000

result: $3,780

George Sowden, Metropole clock

George Sowden

Metropole clock

estimate: $2,000–3,000

result: $3,750

That’s something I believe in: objects have identity, objects create identity. The objects I design are animated by what I put into them but also by what other people put into them. It’s not enough to leave it to other people to make the objects.

George Sowden

George Sowden b. 1942

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As the only British member of the Memphis group, George Sowden made a name for himself with his structural, colorful and humor-inflected designs and illustrations. Born in Leeds, United Kingdom in 1942, Sowden studied architecture at the Gloucestershire College of Art, graduating in 1968, and moved to Milan in 1970 to work for Sottsass Associati and Olivetti. In Milan, he met his to-be wife, artist and designer Nathalie du Pasquier, who would join Memphis along with Sowden in 1981. That same year, he established his own firm, SowdenDesign, developing products for the likes of Olivetti, Swid Powell, Alessi, Swatch and Pyrex, among others. His diverse designs range from consumer electronics and appliances to wallpaper and textiles. In 1991 he received the Compasso d’Oro Award and established his own name brand, SOWDEN in 2010 to continue designing objects of integrity in his striking and tactile postmodern style.

Additional Resources

George Sowden
Sowden Shop
George Sowden for Hay

To learn more about a work by George Sowden in your collection, contact our specialists.

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