In this conversation with the Chief Curator of Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum in Munich, Dr. Corinna Rösner, Alessandro Mendini talks about his work for Alessi, the personal bonds with the Alessi family, and the phases the Alessi design went through over the decades.

Alessandro Mendini is one of the great figures of design. Not only with its products but above all through its influential ideas, actions and meta projects Alessi wrote European design history and provided inspiration for reflections on the future of design. Since the 1970s Alessandro Mendini has played a central role for the development of Italian design as designer, architect and theoretician. His unusual, radical ideas made him a mentor and stimulus for the creative avant-garde. Mendini founded groups such as Global Tools and Alchimia, managed the most influential Italian design magazines and with his theories on banal and re-design was instrumental in securing the success of Postmodernism.

For Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum in Munich, Alessandro Mendini curated a retrospective of the last 30 years of Italian design. The exhibition titled Oggetti e Progetti focuses on the Alessi company, which evolved from a small metal-working firm into a creative factory in the field of design with global operations.

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