Welcome to the world of ENORME. The year is 1985. The world wide web is operating out of a garage. The men in suits are making millions. That song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is playing on the radio. This is where the ENORME story begins.
When IDEO founder David Kelley, investor Jean Pigozzi, and Memphis design founder Ettore Sottsass became collaborators, technology was purely functional. The clunky, brick-like phone remains a defining symbol of the 1980s—its design dictated by technological ambition rather than aesthetic refinement. The trio saw an opportunity to reimagine an object of pure utility as something beautiful—a prescient step in the confluence of technology and design we know today. In addition to a typewriter and failed plans for a robot, ENORME went to market with the ENORME phone.
Sleek. Radically contemporary for its time. The telephone now lives on in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Rhode Island School of Design as a seminal piece in design history. 40 years later, it has returned to a radically new landscape.
In 2025, a time capsule containing 500 untouched collectible ENORME sets was discovered and retrieved from Stanford, California. Enorme will be reintroduced to the world with the blessing and support of Kelley, Pigozzi and other surviving Memphis members.
Only 1,000 phones were ever produced.
It is the only original (non-reproduction) work by Sottsass available for purchase today.
Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) was an Italian architect and designer known for his bold, unconventional approach to form and color. As the founder of the Memphis Group, he redefined 1980s design with playful, geometric, and often irreverent pieces that rejected modernist minimalism. His work spanned furniture, industrial design, and architecture, including collaborations on early personal computers and consumer electronics. Sottsass's legacy continues to influence contemporary design, blending function with radical expression
Jean Pigozzi is a French-Italian investor, photographer, and art collector. A close collaborator with Ettore Sottsass and a champion of the Memphis Group, he played a key role in bridging design, technology, and business. Beyond design, Pigozzi is recognized for his extensive collection of contemporary African and Japanese art and his documentary-style photography capturing the intimate worlds of fashion, celebrity, and culture.
David Kelley is an American designer, engineer, and entrepreneur best known as the founder of IDEO, a pioneering firm in human-centered design. A professor at Stanford University, he also co-founded the Stanford d.school, shaping the way design thinking is taught and applied across industries. Kelley has played a key role in redefining product design, blending technology, user experience, and innovation to create groundbreaking consumer products.
"When I was young, all we ever heard about was functionalism, functionalism, functionalism. It's not enough. Design should also be sensual and exciting." — Ettore Sottsass