Conversation pieces in your kitchen
Who says everyday things can’t be conversation pieces?
It alian design brand Alessi takes note of both the ordinary and extraordinary moments in our lives with whimsical pieces that evoke humor and wit — but always with the distinguished touch of industry and innovation.
Since 1921, Alessi has consistently and successfully produced practical, modern designs for the home that speak of art and poetry. From its premium houseware and delicate kitchen utensils to home decor, Alessi has elevated simple, everyday items into beautiful adornments that discerning homemakers have come to love.
Alessi continues to showcase the Italian mastery of design and fuses it with modern playfulness, inspiring Filipino homemakers to design their own beautiful life.
*** Two designers with very different expressive styles and sensibilities, Antonio Aricò and
Massimo Giacon, bring us an original interpretation of a number of classic objects associated with the celebration of love, such as party favors and wedding cake toppers, in the brand’s newest collection “Alessi in Love.”
With Antonio Aricò’s “La petite mariée,” the party favor takes the form of a small porcelain woman whose delicate dress conceals a little container for wedding sweets. Massimo Giacon’s “Bombolina,” meanwhile, takes the form of a white swan upon whose feathers sit a kissing couple. In addition, Giacon also celebrates new births with the stork- inspired creation, “Bimboniera.” And there is the Ab i Al ic e collection. For years, Abi
Al ice’s work ha s veered between industrial design and ar tistic research. Intrigued by the shape of the ellipse, she has created a small collection of containers that t ranslates this evocative geometrical shape into a 3- D plastic object.
The “Ellipse” is produced via traditional metal processing in which the sheet is cut and then bent or folded into the shape stipulated by the designer. In Abi Alice’s project, three ellipses of different sizes are produced from a sheet of stainless steel and then slightly curved to turn them into a series of versatile containers.
*** “Human collection” is the contribution of French designer Bruno Moretti and Michelin- star chef Guy
Savoy, owner of the eponymous Guy Savoy Parisian restaurant. The collection embraces the continuity between the kitchen and the dining room, designed to enhance flavor sand fully satisfy the senses. The name chosen for this project symbolizes Savoy’s constant attention on an element that is central to all of his creations — people. On the other hand, Giulio Ia cc hetti designed an original stainless steel fruit holder. “Tutti Frutti” is a basket with a pronged rod inserted in the middle that enables you to hang fruit. It can also be used for aesthetic purposes to add a further degree of poetry to the composition. “Fur bo” by Kings Fed erica Perazzoli and Daniele Innamorato) is a piece of sculpture composed of a little statue made from cast plastic resin that holds a stainless steel bowl that is 20 centimeters in diameter. The statue is completely colored with neon red paint, another distinctive expressive element associated with Kings’ art. Furbo has been produced in a limited edition series of 999 pieces. Michele de Lucchi designed “Cabin,” a bamboo box that encapsulates all of the poetry so typical of his projects. Cabin forms part of De Lucchi’s research into materials that “age well,” like wood, stone and metals. These materials retain their authenticity, accepting their aging process since time is the greatest artist that exists. The result is a series of industrial products that encapsulates the essence of an object that is part art and part craft. “Koki” makes being at home like being in an ice cream parlor. This ice cream spoon designed by Valerio Sommella is for all ice cream lovers. The shape of this object recalls the soft consistency of ice cream, once again demonstrating the designer’s ability to model steel as if it were a soft and delicate material. The “Broken Bowl” fruit holder is the first project designed by Maximilian Schmahl for Alessi. With “Broken Bowl,” the designer literally breaks tradition to create a round fruit holder that, as the name suggests, is folded along the diameter and broken into two halves. The unusual shape of the object makes it possible to arrange the fruit, playing with the sizes, colors and shapes of the different types. Its simple, linear design makes the product elegant without compromising its functionality. UNStudio collaborated with Alessi for the first time in 2003 on the “Tea & Coffee Towers” project. Over 10 years later its is back with “Ribbon,” a sophisticated stainless steel bottle holder. Like a soft ribbon enveloping the bottles, delicately holding them in the air, Ribbon offers an original interpretation of the classic kitchen bottle holder. Antonio Aricò decorates “#vivanapoli” with three Mr. Punches preparing the pizza and the Gulf of Naples and Vesuvius in the background. *** The various shapes of the “Ossidiana” espresso coffee maker inspired Sicilian architect Mario Trimarchi for the design of a sugar bowl. “Diana” pays homage to the espresso coffee maker that it sits alongside as an essential accessory in the coffee-serving ritual. The body is made from thermoplastic resin. The black color and satin finish give the item a sculpted and mysterious appearance reminiscent of lava stone, the main inspiration for this project. Included in the collection is the “Infinity Clock.” It is created by subjecting sheet steel to sophisticated laser cutting, folding, curving and soldering operations. Its geometric and sculpted design stems from a reflection on the concept of time. *** Fascinated by the shapes and colors of the classic “sticky dots” found in stationery shops, Abi Alice used a circle shape to design a clock with simple lines. Daniel Libeskind, a designer, architecture theorist and artist in the broadest sense of the word, has worked worldwide, becoming one of the stars of the contemporary deconstructivist architecture movement. For his first project with Alessi, Libeskind designed “Time Maze,” a clock whose body takes the form of discontinuous lines, broken surfaces, cuts and openings. Mario Trim arc hi took inspiration from this childhood memory to design a collection of objects with unsteady, haphazard geometries, as if they have been moved by the wind. The irregular shapes of the hexagonal clock face and the surrounding tiles are obtained from the laser cutting and folding of a sheet of steel, a typical Alessi production technique. The spaces created between the tiles generate light-and-shade effects that add magic and dynamism.