Alessi

Alessi may refer to:

Alessi (Italian company)

Alessi is a housewares and kitchen utensil company in Italy, producing everyday items from plastic and metal, created by famous designers.

From the 1990s onward, Alessi has been associated with the notion of "designer" objects — otherwise ordinary tools and objects executed as high design, particularly in a post-modern mode, from designers such as Philippe Starck. Many of the early memorable "designer kettles", "designer toothbrushes", "designer kitchenware", and so on were Alessi products, though competition in this product category has greatly increased since then.

History

1920s to 1940s

Alessi was founded in 1921 by Giovanni Alessi. The firm began as a workshop in Valle Strona near Lake Orta in the Italian Alps near Switzerland. An area known for its tradition in making small objects of wood or metal for in the house and in the kitchen in general. Alessi started with producing a wide range of tableware items in nickel, chromium and silver-plated brass. The company’s intention was to produce hand-crafted items with the aid of machines. Design in the current sense of the term began when Carlo Alessi (born 1916), son of Giovanni, was named chief designer. Carlo was trained as an industrial designer. Between 1935 and 1945 he developed virtually all of the products Alessi produced. In 1945 he ascended to chief executive and designed the coffee service.

Alessi (surname)

Alessi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Fictional characters:

See also