In Focus: Alessi

Celebrating irony

As they continue to mark 100 years by celebrating their founding values, Alessi introduce Irony as their seventh value – say hello to Bulbul, a design by Achille Castiglioni

Irony is the seventh value celebrated by Alessi with the November launch of the Bulbul kettle. Designed by the great Achille Castiglioni in 1995, it has remained unpublished until now.

Consisting of a large container with a polished 18/10 stainless steel lid and of the bottom, suitable for all hobs, “Bulbul” is a perfect kettle imagined in the rounded shape of a curling stone: from frozen water to evaporated water, a divertissement amplified by the name chosen by Castiglioni, “bul, bul”, meaning “it’s boiling, it’s boiling” which comes from the traditional dialect of Milan, where this unforgettable designer was born.

“Achille often reminded me that I would ask him to design kitchen utensils that he was unaccustomed to using,” says Alberto Alessi. “For example, his kettle presents a new way of

“People often ask me why irony as a rhetorical notion is often to be found in our products. I do not really know how to answer precisely, for in actual fact, the use of this notion is very much linked to the characteristics of the various designers, and probably responds to the attempt we make not to take ourselves too seriously, to lighten up our daily lives.”

Alberto Alessi

handling this object: almost as if to suggest an invitation to play by sliding it across the kitchen surface.”

As a result of his indefatigable curiosity and flair for experimentation, “Bulbul” reveals Castiglioni’s extraordinary ability to transfer qualities and functions into a project from objects belonging to completely different spheres. A game of transfers that has often resulted in the equally famous ironic content in many of his works. “Bulbul” is dedicated to all the true connoisseurs of design, fans of Achille Castiglioni’s work and anyone who appreciates the ability of an object to make us think twice, transfiguring our domestic landscape with amusing irony.

Did you know?

The kettle is named after the phrase “bul, bul”, meaning “it’s boiling, it’s boiling” which comes from the traditional dialect of Milan, where the designer was born.

The Alessi 100 Values Collection is the special centenary initiative that speaks about the founding values of the company’s design excellence. Twelve values, twelve months, twelve unpublished projects with deep-running roots. Objects that were never realized, research samples, new versions of signature classics.

Borderline

brilliance

Alessi continue their centenary celebrations, giving us Juicy Salif Study n.3...

The eighth value of the Alessi 100 Values Collection is Borderline. But what does it actually mean?

“Working on the borderline is the destiny of an Italian design factory like Alessi,” explains Alberto Alessi. “We explore the line of what is possible and try each time to go beyond it.” For Alberto, Borderline means the cryptic borderline “between a project that will be understood, loved and desired by the public and another that the public will not succeed in understanding and therefore adopt. This line is not clearly marked out; it is not visible with market research. It can only be guessed at by making careful use of our sensitivity and accepting that a few risks need to be taken.”

It is specifically on the creative/imaginary borderline between what is possible and what isn’t that Alessi place Juicy Salif Study n.3: a fascinating and unpublished research sample of the iconic juicer designed by Philippe Starck, in which the sculpturality of the object prevails over its function, expressing itself in full.

Juicy Salif Study n.3 reproduces one of the first prototypes based on Starck’s sketches on a paper tablemat of a pizzeria: these early designs produced during a holiday in Tuscany gave life to what is defined as “the most controversial juicer of the 20th century”.

The object has captivated the public’s imagination since its first appearance being called everything from a spider to an alien!

As Philippe Starck himself said: “Juicy Salif is not only about squeezing lemons, it’s about what we see in it, the way this micro-sculpture lets our imagination run wild. When someone asks, ‘What is this?’ a conversation begins, and this is the scenario that drives me while designing such a bizarre object.”

Did you know?

Juicy Salif has been dubbed “the most controversial juicer of the 20th century”.

For design lovers

The juicer – the eighth project presented for the Alessi 100 Values Collection – will be produced in cast bronze in a numbered edition of 999, plus three artist’s proofs. This precious version of Juicy Salif is dedicated to the collectors of the most provocative works of Philippe Starck and to lovers of unique and limited-series pieces who want to create their own personal design gallery.