Architecture, furniture publishing industry: Alessandro Mendini was the soul of Italian design of the '900, crossing all its expressions and leaving a deep mark. Beauty, irony, innovation, are some of the distinctive characteristics of his style, highly recognizable in urban design as well as in furnishings and small accessories that bear his signature.

Proust by Cappellini

Born in Milan in 1931, he graduated from the Politecnico in 1959, in 1979 he took part in the Alchimia Group, in whose manifesto he himself affirmed: "For Alchimia, the hypothesis is that different methods of conception and production should be coexistent, where mix crafts, industry, information technology, current and non-current techniques and materials ". In 1979, he was awarded with the Compasso d'Oro in 1979 and in 1989 he founded Atelier Mendini with his brother.

He has directed sector magazines such as Casabella, Domus and Modo, he has collaborated with companies such as Zanotta, Alessi, Venini, Bisazza, but also Swatch, Cartier and Swarowsky. Always experimenting and leaving the mark.

Proust by Magis

His most iconic furnishing is certainly the Proust armchair, inspired by an eighteenth-century style armchair and characterized by a very colorful, hand-painted texture, sometimes by Mendini himself, who nevertheless always controlled its realization. In addition to the original version, in 1993  Cappellini commercialized a version called Geometric, modified in the design but made by hand. Magis , on the other hand, realizes one entirely in polyethylene, in 6 different colors, also adapted to the outside, thanks to a hole that allows the drainage of rainwater.

Settecento by Glas Italia

Iconic are also the many projects realized for Alessi , in particular the Anna G. series corkscrews with the feminine shape and the re-edition of Moka . As well as the Roy stools, designed for  Kartell and on the Settecento mirrors designed for Glas Italia.

His undisputed postmodern accent also applies to urban projects, including the Gibellina Clock Tower, the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, the Salvator Rosa, Materdei and the University of Naples underground stations.

For the cover image: courtesy Zanotta

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