Alessi

The Story of Alessi

The Alessi company was founded by Giovanni Alessi in 1921 at Omegna, a village near Lake Orta in the foothills of the Alps. The region has historically been known for its craftsmen who traveled to Switzerland and Germany to train in metalworking. The company is now run by the third generation, with the fourth generation preparing to join the family business.

Today, Alessi is adept at merging the industrial needs of production with the intellectual and spiritual methods of a research laboratory in the field of the applied arts. This is what inspires Alessi's tireless research and experimentation. It has also led the company over the last few years to work with materials such as wood, porcelain and ceramics, plastic, glass and crystal, as well as new technologies. Alessi is known as a leader in industrial design and has become the most imitated in the field.

Over the years, Alessi has produced objects that have been created by over two hundred designers from around the world, including Ettore Sottsass, Richard Sapper, Achille Castiglioni, Michael Graves, Philippe Starck, Stefano Giovannoni, Enzo Mari, Jasper Morrison, Marc Newson, Ron Arad, Fratelli Campana, Toyo Ito, SANAA, Zaha Hadid, and Alessandro Mendini (who has also been the design consultant to the company since 1979).

The two brands represented here are Alessi and A di Alessi. The Alessi brand consists of the core products for the company. They are mainly objects for the kitchen and home, mostly in stainless steel and other metals, crystal, porcelain, and wood. The A di Alessi brand includes more fun and colorful objects made from plastic and sometimes stainless steel.