In order to allow us to listen to our thoughts, someone came up with the idea of inventing words. Someone thought that the sound of the words could in some way represent the wanderings of our thoughts; of some of our thoughts. Someone else got the idea of representing thoughts by making marks, by making them with light, with something you could see.

I make marks. What I mean is that 1 always, and only, draw in order to represent certain thoughts that pursue me. These thoughts trace out the forms, dimensions, weight, materials, colors and temperatures to use in building the stage onto which I, or we, will drag existence, including -- in the theater set --all the furniture, curtains, lamps and objects in general -- you know, vases for flowers, plates for eating, baskets for bread (if there is any) or fruit (if there is any) and so on... (Ettore Sottsass,1997)

Ettore Sottsass. Thinking by drawing

Sottsass 700 drawings

Captions of the drawings