In focus: Alessi

Values celebrations continue

Alessi’s centenary celebrations continue with the release of the products chosen to represent the values Hybridisation and Research Lab within the Alessi 100 Values Collection. The values depicted are important to the company’s history while it also looks ahead to the future.

Hybridisation

Hybridisation is the fifth value selected to celebrate, in September, the Alessi's Centenary within the Alessi 100 Values Collection - a special tribute to the values that has defined the identity and practice of "The Dream Factory".

To represent this hybridisation value – an expression of the multidisciplinary creativity underlying many of the projects that led the company to its global renown – are two iconic pieces by Alessandro Mendini, architect, artist, designer and theorist of international standing: the Anna G. and Alessandro M. corkscrews, which in their new centenary edition, come dressed up in the dreamy Galla Placidia decor.

As Alberto Alessi says “hybridisation is a fundamental part of the design practice of Alessandro Mendini, who has always loved to open his world of design to the influence of other fields. In the case of ‘Anna G.’ and ‘Alessandro M.’, which over time have sported multiple changes of clothes, this special version, once again hybridises the world of ‘cultured.’ design with the exaggerated decorative stance of fashion. Mendini’s design Galla Placidia (1984), after a range of applications in the world of architecture and furnishings, adds new lustre to the appearance of these two noted ‘design portraits’.”

The attraction of the lights, colours and mosaic vaults of the small mausoleum in Ravenna dedicated to the Roman empress Galla Placidia has inspired Alessandro Mendini to create an iridescent play of shapes and colours, striking for the rigour of its geometries in contrast to its vivid and dreamy hues. An unprecedented application, in which the precious dress enhances the soft and delicate design of the two iconic corkscrews.

The bold pink, blue, yellow and orange hues on the new decor contrast with the monochromatic facial representations of the two corkscrews. Fun yet functional, the Anna G. and Alessandro M. corkscrews perfectly combine artistry with practicality and continue the iconic traditions that Alessi is known for. 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.

Alessi’s Research Lab value will be represented in October by a novel edition of two of the company’s iconic espresso coffee makers from one of their unreleased laboratory proofs. These espresso coffee makers are regarded as the utmost expression of such research: Richard Sapper’s 9090 manico forato and Aldo Rossi’s La conica manico lungo.

Research Lab is the value intrinsic the company’s practice and identity, in that Alessi conceives its own nature as being similar to “an industrial research laboratory dedicated to a continuous mediation between the immensity of creativity and the needs, or rather the dreams, of the public,” as explained by Alberto Alessi.

Two particularly interesting examples of such practice can be found in the research that led to the creation of the two espresso coffee makers, “9090” by Richard Sapper and “La conica” by Aldo Rossi. For Alessi’s centenary, the company is presenting two unpublished laboratory proofs from its archives. As told by Alberto Alessi, “The first is a version with a perforated and coloured handle imagined by the German designer to limit the conduction of heat during the preparation of coffee. The second has a long lateral handle, like the antique ‘cuccume’ (coffeepots) that often recur in the designs of the Milanese designer.”

A version of the iconic 9090 espresso coffee maker by Richard Sapper presenting itself to the public with a handle he designed and which has never been produced before: a series of small holes run lengthwise through it and it is coloured in a bright red. The only colour present in Richard Sapper’s objects, red was used by the designer to emphasise the mobile and intersecting elements of his designs; just like the handle of this espresso coffee maker which, in its movement, comprises an innovative closing system.

With its curated juxtaposition of volumes and its strict narrative of primary shapes, capped by its peculiar conical peak – the keystone of this small domestic architecture – La conica by Aldo Rossi comes in the first version presented to the company by its designer: the body, developing upwards like a building, is equipped with an elegant long handle almost paying tribute to the Milanese designer’s beloved vintage bowls.

The soft blue colour on the sleek handle and bulbous tip provide a sense of serenity against the metallic body of the coffee maker.

These two espresso coffee-makers are dedicated to the fans of Richard Sapper’s and Aldo Rossi’s talent and to those who can appreciate pieces with a “high narrative content” – an opportunity to discover 20th century design classics in their unrealized versions.

alessi.com

“These two espresso coffee-makers are dedicated to the fans of Richard Sapper’s and Aldo Rossi’s talent and to those who can appreciate pieces with a 'high narrative content'”