Postmodernism and Memphis

Postmodern designers broke modernism's rules on purpose: pastiche instead of purity, humor instead of neutrality, decoration instead of restraint. Wolfgang Weingart and April Greiman exploded the Swiss grid; the Memphis Group, led by Ettore Sottsass, answered functionalism with squiggles, terrazzo, and candy colors.

Its most lasting lesson may be that style carries meaning — that choosing to break the grid says something, and can be exactly the right thing to say.