Poetic justice

Q. You have been credited with putting Alessi firmly on the design map through high-profile collaborations with renowned players in the design industry. When you first started approaching these designers, what qualities were you looking for?

A. I was looking for some poets able to reinterpret the contemporary world with industrial products which have truly innovative shapes.

Q. Since Alessi does not employ any in-house designers and works solely with these external designers, how does this affect the brand's identity? What makes a product an Alessi product?

A. We don't want to have a uniform "style". I believe our strength, and certainly our characteristic, is having a 'fil rouge' [common thread or guiding principle], represented by the cultural quality of our authors - the architects and designers who collaborate with us.

Q. Alessi has featured cutting-edge technology over the years. How do you balance this with the brand's devotion to handicraft culture?

A. It is a feature of our ambiguity. We use the most advanced technologies in our production environment, but we do it with a mindset [focused on] craft - bending the machines to the poetic and expressive needs of our designers.

Q. You once said that it was your goal to transform the consumer's view of objects as functional, gadget items to objects that can improve how they perceive the world. How have you managed to do this and what further steps will you take to achieve this goal?

A. I've done it by transforming Alessi into a research laboratory [that explores] the field of applied arts, that is, the design. It has been a process [that we've been working on for] 40 years and, today, I can affirm we have all the tools to continue playing this role.