Who invented alessi

Between and he developed most of the products Alessi released. The chief designer in the mid-thirties, until he took over running the firm from his father in the fifties, was Carlo Alessi. His younger brother Ettore joined in and, as head of the technical department, he opened Alessi to external designers working at first with architects. Many Alessi products are creations of top American designers. The whimsical Alessi bird whistle tea kettle, designed by architect Michael Graves in , is the company's best-selling item of all time.

But when Alessi first approached Graves in , he was a well-known architect who had never before done product design.

The project earned Alessi a new respect in the design world, and two of those architects—Graves and Aldo Rossi—were key design discoveries for Alessi, going on to create iconic kettles, coffee presses and many other items.

The best designers in history, Alberto tells me, have always been architects. Graves, of course, is now a home design authority with a line for Target and countless products for Alessi. But we are the last link in a long chain. The quantum leap came in when Alessandro Mendini proposed having several architects, including Robert Venturi and Richard Meier, design classic silver tea and coffee services.

Produced in limited editions, they were elegant, inspired—and witty. Something was changing. Alberto Alessi agrees. In Alessi began working with unestablished designers, including students, which has revivified the house; the firm has also established workshops, including one at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.

There are approximately two hundred and I try to take care of every one of them in the best way. They well know how I rely on them. Designers clearly relish not only the freedom Alessi gives them, but the technical risks the company is willing to take. Alessi does a lot of investigation.

Since then many eminent designers have worked with Alessi. Alessi now manufactures a wide range of mass produced products mainly in stainless steel and plastic, as well as other products in different metals, porcelain and wood. The Alessi Museum was opened in to house all the objects, designs, images and documents from the history of the firm.

Alessi since ', Milan Production date