Alessi was founded in
1921 by
Giovanni Alessi, as a small
company making
silverware and
kitchen utensils. Sometime around
1935 Giovanni's eldest son
Carlo, who had studied
industrial design, started to
design items for his fathers company. Carlo did most of the designs for Alessi for the following ten years, and proceeded as
Chief Executive after his father's retirement.
Together with his brother
Ettore he began to call in
free-lance designers -
Carlo Mazzeri and
Anselmo Vitale among others - and moved the focus of the
product catalogue from everyday household items to more
exclusive designer items, whilst maintaining
usability and simple
elegance in the spirit of the
Bauhaus movement.
Over the years, Alessi has worked with more than two hundred designers, including names as
Ettore Sottsass,
Michael Graves,
Massimo Morozzi,
Philippe Starck and
Enzo Mari, and the designer duo
King Kong.
Website at
www.alessi.it