Erstwhile Memphis design group leader Ettore Sottsass is perhaps best known for the whimsical, bright-hued, geometric furnishings he designed in the 1980s—bookshelves, cabinets, tables, and more that seemed to squirm and dance like the titular Snake in the popular video game of the same era.
But the Italian-born Sottsass wasn't just an ambitious industrial designer: he was also an accomplished architect. Surface magazine's February issue takes readers inside one of only three Sottsass residences in the United States: the circa-2000 Silicon Valley home of Ideo chairman and co-founder David Kelley. Kelley told Surface how the fortuitous collaboration came about.