The dream factory: Alessi since 1921

Abstract

"A comprehensive look at one of the most influential brands in design, which for decades has epitomized ingenious styling of objects for everyday use. Alessi has been described as a 'dream factory,' creating products that are artful and poetic yet practical. This beautifully illustrated book details the emergence and success of designs that have since become authentic icons of the domestic landscape, presenting works by notable figures in the design world such as Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, Richard Sapper, Alessandro Mendini, Aldo Rossi, Michael Graves, Philippe Starck, Enzo Mari, and Stefano Giovannoni. Their creations embody a thoughtful mixture of eccentricity, playfulness, irony, and elegance. This fascinating volume follows the evolution of the company and explains how certain products have come to be so successful, such as Michael Graves s whistling 9093 tea kettle and Philippe Starck s Juicy Salif juicer, which remain classics decades after their invention"--Provided by publisher.

Contents

The other half of the 1990s. Jasper Morrison; Naoto Fukasawa, Rod Arad; Marc Newson, Mario Botta; Norman Foster, Frank Gehry; Donato D'Urbino e Paolo Lomazzi, Lluís Clotet -- What does design mean today? -- The new century and Tea & Coffee Towers. Tea & Coffee Towers; Il caffè/tè Alessi, future systems/ Jan Kaplický; Doriana e Massimiliano Fuksas -- Paranoic designers and metanoic designers. David Chipperfield; Toyo Ito, SANAA; Wiel Arets, Zaha Hadid; Peter Zumthor; UNStudio, Nigel Coates, Odile Decq; Tom Kovac, Daniel Libeskind -- The Italian design factories and the practice of the borderline. (Un)Forbidden city passe-moi la Maryse! -- The 2010s: Ethical and radical? -- The metaphor of good gardener -- Alessi's collaboration with schools. Cranbrook; ECAL, RMIT; TU Delft, Pure Creativity, #Concrete in Design; Alessi Design Awards -- The Australian New Wave. Steven Blaess; Lisa Vincitorio, Helen Kontouris, Jim Hannon-Tan; Adam Cornish, Abi Alice -- Scandinavian simplicity. Eero Aarnio; Kristiina Lassus, Harri Koskinen, Monica Förster -- The beauty of the Wiener Werkstätte. Lucy.D; Eoos -- Ah, La France! Pierre Charpin; Pauline Deltour, Inga Sempé; Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec; BIG-GAME, Michel Boucquillon & Donia Maaoui -- The rest of the world. Fernando e Humberto Campana; Martí Guixé; Patricia Urquiola, Alan Chan; Naoko Shintani, Studio Job; Marcel Wanders -- The technique of epiphany in contemporary design -- New American experiences. Hani Rashid, Karim Rashid, Dror Benshetrit -- Our Italian landscape today. Anna e Gian Franco Gasparini; Pier Paolo Pitacco, Pierfrancesco Cravel, Claudia Raimondo; Massimo Mariani, Sandro Chia, KINGS; Mario Trimarchi; Giulio Iacchetti; Piero Lissoni; Michele De Lucchi -- Young designers. Giovanni Alessi Anghini; Gabriele Chiave - Lorenza Bozzoli; Rodrigo Torres, Frédéric Gooris; Elena Manferdini, Andrea Morgante, Maximilian Schmahl; Valerio Sommella -- Italian design factories as research laboratories in the decorative arts: The last link in a long chain -- Historic reproduction -- The Alessi Museum -- The Wonder Shops -- Alessi and other companies. Introduction. Alessi and the phenomenon of Italian design factories -- The beginnings: The 1920s and 1930s -- Carlo Alessi -- Ettore Alessi: The 1950s and 1960s. The role of objects in consumer society -- The 1970 and the first design heroes. Ettore Sottsass; Richard Sapper; La Cintura di Orione; Achille Castiglioni; Alessandro Mendini -- Italian design factories versus mass production industries: two different ways of looking at design -- The 1980s and Tea & Coffee Piazza. Tea & Coffee Piazza; Aldo Rossi; Michael Graves; Paolo Portoghesi; Robert Venturi; Riccardo Dalisi; Massimo Morozzi; Andrea Branzi; Enzo Mari; Philippe Starck -- The transgressive component of Italian design as a historical component -- The 1990s: New designers, new materials, and decoration. Twergi; Tendentse; 100% make up -- Centro Studi Alessi: Playful language, young designers, plastic. Memory containers; Marta Sansoni, Emma Silvestris -- Design understood as art and poetry: An epistemological interpretation: Donald W. Winnicott and the theory of transitional phenomena -- F.F.F. Family follows fiction; Massimo Giacon, Miriam Mirri; Le Figure; King-Kong; Stefano Giovannoni; Elisa Giovannoni; Guido Venturini -- The language of objects and designers: An exercise guided by Franco Fornari's theory of affective codes