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Alberto Alessi will be giving a presentation on the history of Alessi 1921-2016 and the phenomenon of the Italian Design Factories. This will be followed by a Q&A on the importance and significance of design.
Alberto Alessi represents the third generation of the Alessi family. He officially joined the company in 1970, the day after graduating from law school. An early task was to overhaul the corporate identity and the company’s offices. Early collaborations with artists and sculptors such as Giò Pomodoro, Andrea Cascella, and most famously Salvador Dali, stemmed from his own personal manifesto of “offering veritable artistic items at low prices.” This utopian view of design practice led Alessi to continue his collaboration with Sargiani and Helander with Programma. The concept was radically to overhaul the basic components used in table and kitchen services by creating a modular series of household items (and the series was re-launched to great acclaim in 2005).
In 1972 Sargiani introduced Ettore Sottsass to Alberto, beginning a partnership that would span three decades and produce some of the company’s most iconic pieces. Sottsass in turn recommended Richard Sapper to the company, further enhancing the company’s reputation of working with key names in the field of international design. The design critic Alessandro Mendini began working with Alessi in 1977.
As CEO, Alberto has continually striven to work at the heart of international creative culture, thinking of his company as a “research lab in the Applied Arts.” Alberto Alessi has written several books, including La Cintura di Orione (Longanesi, Milano 1986), Not in Production, Next to Production (Alessi Spa, Crusinallo 1988), and The Dream Factory (Electa, Milano 1998). He has also contributed articles for many international magazines and publications and been a visiting professor at several design colleges. Alberto Alessi is a member of the Academic Board of the U.I.A.H., Helsinki and sits on the honorary committee of the Design Museum, London. He is a senior fellow of the Royal College of Art, London; honorary professor of the Hochschule der Bildenden Kunste, Saarbrucken; Doctor Honoris Causa of the U.I.A.H. of Helsinki; Doctor of Fine Arts at the Miami University of Oxford, Ohio; and, has an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Central England, Birmingham. In 1998 he received the Design Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
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