It keeps appearing in fashion feeds, in glossy magazines and at the finest addresses of the design trade: a mirror shaped like a wave, almost two metres tall, glowing pink from within. The Ultrafragola by Ettore Sottsass is probably the most photographed vintage mirror of our time, and few pieces are surrounded by as many misunderstandings. One of them concerns its colour: the warm orange that early pieces are hunted for today was never designed by Sottsass. It is not a colour. It is an age.

What is the Ultrafragola?

In 1970, Ettore Sottsass, who would go on to co-found the Memphis Group a good decade later, designed a furniture series called Mobili Grigi for the Tuscan manufacturer Poltronova, shown at the third Eurodomus. These were pieces of furniture that carried light inside them, and the mirror is the only model of the series that ever made it past the prototype stage. Its name is a statement: Ultrafragola, the ultra strawberry. The curved wave of opal white plastic traces the curves of the female body and long, wavy hair; the almost door-high mirror is also read as an homage to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland: a portal into the world behind. The dimensions have not changed since the first edition: 100 cm wide, 13 cm deep, 195 cm tall.

From panned to object of desire

The Ultrafragola was not always famous, quite the opposite. At its debut it was torn apart by the press, and for decades Poltronova sold only a handful of pieces. Only in the 2010s, with the rise of social media, did the misunderstood experiment become the ultimate selfie object: a mirror that brings its own light is simply unbeatable for self-portraits. Since the lockdown years at the latest, the Ultrafragola selfie has been part of fashion's standard repertoire, with the pink wave returning again and again in the feeds of influencers like Emili Sindlev, Nina Sandbech, Linn Eklund and Viky Rader. The design trade followed: from The Future Perfect to Artemest, the finest addresses carry the mirror as an icon. And so, over fifty years, the panned design became a piece that today counts as one of the most famous mirrors in the world.

Why do old Ultrafragola mirrors glow orange?

Bought new, an Ultrafragola glows a soft pink. The orange only comes with time: decades of daylight yellow the opal white plastic, and the pink of the tubes turns into a warm amber. That exact tone can neither be ordered nor rebuilt; no factory can mix it. It becomes orange, or it isn't. Whoever finds a piece with this glow today is not holding a faded object, but one that has made fifty years visible. For buyers, that is exactly the point: age does not diminish the value, it makes the sought-after tone possible. The orange glow is not a contradiction but the transition from new to coveted.

Neon tubes or LED: the small, decisive difference

Early pieces work with neon tubes. In a yellowed frame, their light appears peach to orange, soft and alive in a way only gas discharge can manage. Later versions rely on pink LEDs, which never reach that tone. Sottsass himself described the light of his Mobili Grigi poetically: "Don't submarines have a trembling green light in their belly?" Stand in front of a glowing Ultrafragola in the evening and you understand what he meant. That is how the difference between the light sources becomes immediately visible in a room.

Every piece comes from the same mould

To this day, every Ultrafragola is thermoformed from the original aluminium mould and finished by hand at Poltronova. That is why the dimensions are identical across all editions, and a late piece is therefore not a copy but an original. Which means you cannot read the age off a measuring tape, only off the light. For buyers, this means: the size helps with classification, while the glowing tone decides the impression and the character you are looking for. And so the look at the making leads straight to the question of authenticity.

Original or imitation? How to recognise the real thing

Fame has attracted imitators; replicas now exist in every imaginable colour. Four things separate the original from the copy and the early years from the younger ones. First, the waves: the curves of imitations often turn out too symmetrical, while the original lives off its irregularities. Second, the dimensions as an authenticity check: 100 × 13 × 195 cm. There is no deviation from the original mould. Third, the tone when switched on: peach to amber instead of soft pink reveals an early piece. Fourth, the light source: neon tubes instead of LEDs. These four points order the criteria clearly and lead from the shape through the light to authenticity.

What does an Ultrafragola cost?

New, Poltronova makes the mirror to order; prices sit in the upper four-figure range. On the vintage market, age, condition and lighting technology decide: early pieces with neon tubes sit in the five-figure range, and it is precisely the aged mirrors that are sought after. No young edition can bring the amber tone with it; it needs the fifty years, and those cannot be shortcut. Buyers should therefore look above all at light, age and condition, because exactly these three points determine the value. The difference in price, too, follows directly from the age.

How the Ultrafragola lives

The Ultrafragola needs no staging; it is one. It works best where it is allowed to become the only light source in the evening: in a hallway, a bedroom, next to the wardrobe. Its wave gets along with quiet neighbours, a teak sideboard, a clean-lined sofa, and unfolds its effect against calm walls. If you like bolder company, place it among the other icons of Mid-Century and Space Age design it shares its spirit with. And so its effect leads from the single room straight into its stylistic context.

The Ultrafragola at 2nd home

At 2nd home currently stands an early 1970s model with neon tubes as in the first edition. If the glowing side of the era speaks to you, continue to our page on Space Age design and Mid-Century. And if mirrors are your thing in general, the wall mirrors and the full mirror collection hold more pieces with history. For buyers, this model is especially interesting when an early edition and original light matter. And so the look at the Ultrafragola ends with a direct path to related themes.