Juliette by Ettore Sottsass

“Juliette” by Ettore Sottsass, vase-sculpture in Sèvres porcelain.
Vase-sculpture in Sèvres porcelain, created during the first collaboration between the Master and the Manufacture between 1994 and 1996, which gave rise to a series of fourteen vases and a surtout de table distinguished by exceptionally subtle chromatic variations.
The piece is composed of a geometric stacking of cylindrical volumes in matte white porcelain, punctuated by horizontal discs glazed in a vivid coral red. The ensemble plays on balance, verticality and deliberate displacement: a slightly tilted upper cylinder breaks the main axis and lends the object an almost anthropomorphic presence.
Sottsass deploys here his characteristic visual language—elemental forms, bold colours, a tension between architectural rigor and the sensuality of surfaces. The immaculate purity of Sèvres porcelain dialogues with the graphic precision of the flat colour fields, transforming this vase into a true contemporary sculpture.
Both utilitarian object and minimalist totem, Juliette embodies the encounter between a master of twentieth-century design and the centuries-old excellence of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. The red used for this piece later gave rise to the name “Rouge Sottsass” within the Manufacture.