Time has a way of rearranging priorities. Between projects and a few private matters, this blog has been unusually quiet for some time. Today it returns – with the clocks of George Sowden. Between 1981 and 1988, the Memphis design collective reinvented virtually every category of domestic object. Yet no other member made the clock such a central part of his work as George Sowden. While others reimagined furniture, lighting or ceramics, Sowden transformed the everyday clock into a vehicle for graphic experimentation.
“Acapulco” was featured in Domus 623 (December 1981), one of the earliest magazine presentations of the Memphis collection.
His clocks distilled the group’s central ideas – colour, pattern and playful geometry – into perhaps its most familiar object. They are less concerned with measuring time than with giving it a visual identity.
George Sowden, “Acapulco”, 1981. Laminate over wood, lacquered wood, enamelled aluminium and brass. Memphis Milano. One of the most graphic pieces, two stacked cubes. All his Memphis clocks have no numbers. It was a limited edition with only 30 pieces.
Unlike much Memphis furniture, these clocks are surprisingly restrained. They often read more like graphic design translated into three dimensions than conventional product design, reflecting Sowden’s long-standing fascination with decoration.
“I had a fixation with the concept of decoration, which in the 1970s was a taboo.”
George Sowden
George Sowden, Wooden Clocks, 1972–73. As early as 1973, Sowden was experimenting with sculptural clocks made of wood, anticipating his later fascination with clocks as graphic objects.
George Sowden (*1942) moved from Leeds to Milan in 1970 with a pencil in his hand. “I had seen an issue of Domus with an article on Carnaby Street contributed by Ettore Sottsass … So I wrote him a letter and he asked me to come and work in his studio. He brought me into Olivetti, which is where I understood how the system of industrial production works.”
Study for teleprinter for Olivetti, 1972
At Olivetti he worked on calculators, word processors and computer systems, including the System L1, gaining first-hand experience of industrial production at a moment when office electronics were undergoing a profound transformation and the computer was still a new idea. In 1979 he established his own studio and, two years later, became one of the founding members of Memphis.
This photograph is from the Memphis Milano archive, it shows Sowden surrounded by his complete 1981 clock series, accompanied by the note that these clocks are no longer in production.
“With Memphis I could do what I wanted, and when you can do what you want everything depends on your sensibilities, your ability and creativity.”
George Sowden
If you compare his Olivetti work with his Memphis clocks, you can see a kind of continuity. The clarity, precision and understanding of industrial production remain, but they are joined by bold colours, lots of decoration and a willingness to make people smile.
George Sowden, “Excelsior”, 1981. Laminate over wood, lacquered wood, enamelled aluminium and brass. Memphis Milano.
George Sowden, “American”, 1981. Laminate over wood, lacquered wood, enamelled aluminium and brass. Memphis Milano. An almost architectural composition built from bold geometric forms.
Nathalie Du Pasquier and George Sowden, Neos table clock, 1986. Produced by french company Lorenz, made in Italy. Glazed stoneware, glass, enameled aluminum (17 × 20 × 6 cm).
Nathalie Du Pasquier and George Sowden, Neos table clock, 1986. Lorenz, France/Italy, lacquered oak, glass, enameled aluminum (31 × 13 × 8 cm)
Beyond Memphis, Sowden collaborated with companies including Alessi, Swatch and Pyrex, received the Compasso d’Oro in 1991, invented the SoftBrew brewing system in 2010 and launched his own brand, Sowden, in 2012.
George Sowden, Calculator for Alessi, 1997
His most recent collaboration revisited one of the movement’s earliest ideas. During Milan Design Week 2026, George Sowden and Nathalie Du Pasquier recreated Teatro della mia vita, based on their 1984 project Proposition pour une petite ville—an imagined urban landscape built from colour, geometry and everyday life. The installation reflects ideas that have remained remarkably consistent throughout their careers and is now part of the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Nathalie Du Pasquier was also one of the founding members of Memphis, responsible for many of the group’s most memorable patterns before later devoting herself to painting. During the early Memphis years she and Sowden were partners, and the dialogue between graphic surfaces and three-dimensional objects can be seen in the work of both designers.
George Sowden, Neos wall clocks, 1986. Made by Lorenz.
“If what you do has a pertinent value and meaning, it will remain – otherwise it will vanish: society decides.”
George Sowden
Sources:
The official George Sowden Website
Interview in Interni
Memphis Milano Website
Essential book: Barbara Radice – Memphis: Research, Experiences, Results, Failures and Successes of New Design (Rizzoli, 1984)