Flame Candleholders by Alessandro Mendini for Alessi, 2002, Italy, Set of 3

Alessandro Mendini was born in Milan in 1931. Through his work as an architect, designer, journalist, theorist, and publisher, Mendini helped establish the Italian design sensibility on a global scale—with a particular focus on neo-modern, avant-garde design, as well as the crossover between art, design, and architecture.

Mendini’s influential work spanned the arenas of graphics, furniture, interiors, architecture, stage design, writing, and painting. He graduated from the Politecnico in Milan in 1959, and he began his career at the studio of artist-designer Marcello Nizzoli. Mendini went on to become the publisher of the popular magazines Casabella (1970-76), Modo and Domus (each 1979-85). In 1979, he joined Ettore Sottsass and Michele De Lucchi as a partner at Studio Alchimia—a harbinger of the Memphis Group—before he cofounded Domus Academy in 1982. In 1989, he and his brother Francesco established their architectural practice, Atelier Mendini, in Milan, where he worked until his death in February 2019.

Some of Mendini’s most famed works include the Proust Chair for Cappellini (1978), a baroque form hand painted with a colorful, pointillist surface pattern, and the revitalization of the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands (1994), among others. He designed pieces for a variety of brands, including Alessi, Swatch, Philips, Swarovski, many of which have become contemporary design icons—such as his anthropomorphic Anna G. corkscrew (1994) for Alessi, which was inspired by fellow Italian designer and friend Anna Gili.

In recognition of his outstanding body of work, Mendini was awarded the Compasso d’Oro twice, in 1979 and 1981. He was also honored by the Architectural League of New York, made Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in France, and, in 2014, he was awarded the European Prize for Architecture. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among others.

In 2019, Mendini passed away at the age of 87.

In 1921, the Italian metal-turner Giovanni Alessi purchased a parcel of land in Omegna, in the Piedmont region of Italy, and together with his brother founded a small atelier called Fratelli Alessi Omegna. The workshop produced crafted tableware and household objects in metal and wood, often inspired by the Art Nouveau designs popular in Austria and Britain at the time. With an obsession for quality finishes and careful execution, Giovanni propelled Alessi toward quick success.

In 1932, Giovanni’s eldest son, Carlo joined the family business and, between 1935 and 1945, designed most Alessi’s products. Over the years, he played a vital role in integrating industrial processes into Alessi production and generating large-scale commissions from hotels and restaurants. In 1945, another son of Giovanni, Ettore, joined the company as head of the technical office and began to commission designs from independent designers, such as Luigi Massoni.

In the 1970s, the third generation of the Alessi family joined in: the visionary Alberto Alessi. Influenced by the vanguard design community active in Milan at the time, Albert instigated a campaign to transform Alessi into one of the most forward-thinking design brands in the world. He believed that the “function” of objects must always include an emotional component, and brought in a powerhouse roster of designers and architects to develop new collections imbued with poetry, identity, and spirit.

In the ensuing decades, Alessi forged relationships with the likes of Eero Aarnio, Ron Arad,Mario Botta, the Bouroullec Brothers, Andrea Branzi, the Campana Brothers, the Castiglioni Brothers, Nigel Coates, Joe Colombo, Michele De Lucchi, Naoto Fukasawa, Frank Gehry, Anna Gili, Michael Graves, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito, Piero Lissoni, Enzo Mari, Alessandro Mendini, Jasper Morrison, Jean Nouvel, Karim Rashid, Richard Sapper, Ettore Sottsass, Philippe Starck, Studio Job, and Marcel Wanders, among many, many more.

Alessi pieces can be found in museum collections around the world, especially Carlo Alessi’s Bombé Tea & Coffee Service (1945), Richard Sapper’s 9091 Tea Kettle (1983), Michael Graves’s 9093 Teakettle (1985), Philippe Starck’s Juicy Salif Lemon Squeezer (1990), and Alessandro Mendini’s Anna Gili Corkscrew (1993). Another standout project is the 1983 Tea & Coffee Piazza series, for which Alberto commissioned several limited-edition, “architecture in miniature” tableware objects from major architects like Hans Hollein, Charles Jencks, Richard Meier, Aldo Rossi, Stanley Tigerman, and Robert Venturi.

Despite the vast diversity of its product lines, Alessi has maintained its focus on high-quality production, especially for products made with nickel, chrome, silver-plate, and plastic. With nearly a century of history behind it, the family-owned company remains an established industry leader. In 1998, the Alessi Museum was established at the Alessi headquarters outside of Milan to house prototypes, products, drawings, photographs, publications, and catalogues from Alessi and other companies, documenting the history of the home and of Italian design.

* All images courtesy of Alessi