Alessi

Alessi is a kitchen utensil company from Italy. Alessi was founded in 1921 by Giovanni Alessi. It is 

a company which embodies a typical phenomenon of Italian industrial culture.

Alessi first began in a workshop in Valle Strona near lake Orta in the Italian Alps near Switzerland. This area was also known for its traditionally in creating small objects of wood and metal for the house and in the kitchen in general. Alessi started to produce a wide range of table ware items in nickel, chromium and silver-plated brass. The company produced hand made products with the aid of machines.

The Alessi company began to gain a foothold after Giovanni Alessi’s father Carlo joined the company. Carlo was trained as an industrial designer where he virtually developed all of the products which appeared in the catalogues between 1935 and 1945. In the 1950s father replaced his grandfather as corporate general manager, giving up his role of a designer and increasingly relying on the contributions of freelance designers. In 1957 Luigi Massoni designed salt and pepper shakers, and Ice bucket and Ice tongs as part of the Program 4 for II triennial in Milan.

Luigi Massoni designed salt and pepper shakers, and Ice bucket and Ice tongs in 1957.

Alessi products are still considered to be handicraft items made with the aid of machines. They say that their products are still being considered as handicraft because they want to stick to the culture.

In 1970 Alberto Alessi was responsible for the third transformation of the company. The Alessi company was in Alberto Alessi’s leadership together with some help of maestro designers including  Achille Castiglioni, Richard Sapper, Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sotsess, whom are now important designers who contributed in the seventies. In the 70s Alessi produced the Condiment set (salt and pepper and toothpicks) by Ettore Sotsess, and the Espressomaker by Richard Sapper. The 1980s marked a period in which Italian design factories had to compete with mass production. Alessi also introduced new designers like Aldo Rossi, Michael Graves and Philippe Starck.

Philippe Stark - Lemon Juicier 

Espresso Maker by Aldo Rossi

Bird Kettle - Michael Graves

 Espresso Maker by Richard Sapper

Modern electric Espresso Maker 

Achille Castiglioni - cutlery set 

The Alessi company started to introduce the plastic material in the 90s. This gave the designers freedom in their designs. Stefano Giovannoni and Alessandro Mandini designed the Fruit Mama. During the 2000s Alessi collaborated with several architects for the coffee and tea towers, introducing a new generation of architects such as Weil Arets, Zaha Hadid, Toyo Ito, Grey Lynn, MRVDV, Jean Nouvel and UN studio.

Guido Venturini - Gino Zucchino

Alessandro Mendini by Corkscrew

Alessi products are on display in museums worldwide like Museum of Modern Art in New York, Metropolitan Museum of art, Victoria and Albert Museum, Pompidou Centre and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

We can see that the Alessi company left a great impact on the house hold goods, they made a very good development on the tool and there only mission was that the products that they made were ergonomically correct for the human body. They even eliminated the decoration from there designs to became minimal and neutral. 

Referencing :

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Richmond Cookshop. 2005. Richmond Cookshop. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.richmondcookshop.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1772. [Accessed 20 January 14]

MetaFilter Network Inc.. 1999. MetaFilter. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.metafilter.com/60893/From-whence-the-spork. [Accessed 20 January 14].

Alessi. 2003. Alessi. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.alessi.com/en/company/storia. [Accessed 20 January 14].