With the rise of new groups (Global tools, Archizoom, Superstudio, UFO, Zzigurat, 9999…) the handmade appeared suddenly as the new game for experimentation, a lot of these new groups playing in this new/old path to renew creation. In October 1980, Sottsass was confronted with two proposals, one from Renzo Brugola, a dear old friend and carpenter, telling him his will “to make something together like in the good old times,” and the other one from Mario and Brunella Godani, owners of the Design Gallery Milano, who asked him to create “new furniture” for their gallery.

Ettore Sottsass founded the Memphis Group in Milan on December 11, 1980, after the Bob Dylan song “Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again” played during the group’s inaugural meeting. The group was active from 1981 to 1988.