Exhibitor

The Alessi company was founded by Giovanni Alessi in 1921 at Omegna, a village on Lake Ortain the foothills of the Alps near Novara. Giovanni was a skilled lathe turner, the last of a long line of craftsmen from the nearby Valle Strona valley. During the 1920s and 30s, tableware and household objects were made at his workshop in copper, brass and nickel silver with exquisite crafts skill. Many of the different objects produced in this first period (such as the nickel silver tea and coffee service from 1921, the nickel-coated brass flask holder from 1926 and the cheese tray in fine nickel silver with milk glass from 1929) have become part of the collective memory of generations of Italians. Design (in the modern sense of the word) first appeared at the end of the 1930s when Giovanni's eldest son, Carlo joined the company. Carlo had trained as an industrial designer in Novara and became the author of most of the objects that appeared in the catalogue between the mid-30s and 1945, the year when his last design project was presented: the 'Bombé' tea and coffee services. This became one of the archetypes of the first era of Italian design. In the 50s, Carlo became Chief Executive of the company. Together with his brother Ettore, he began to collaborate with freelance designers such as Carlo Mazzeri, Luigi Massoni and Anselmo Vitale; the authors behind numerous highly successful projects that are still in the catalogue (such as the ‘870’ cocktail shaker, 1957). In 1970, Carlo placed his eldest son, Alberto, in the company and gradually handed responsibility for design management over to him. Other younger members of the family were also brought into the company. Thanks to their continuing creativity and fresh approach, Alessi has been able to develop a policy of design excellence which has made it one of the leading internationally renowned