The Italian Job

Hello readers, I had a rather exciting evening in London on Wednesday night and thought I ought to share it with you. Peroni, the Italian lager company, have opened 'The House of Peroni' in Portland Place, London (right near the Kenyan embassy where I went for my holiday visa interestingly enough!), a residency that will be open for a month and then return again for another month in November.  Keen to associate their brand with Italian design, culture and innovation, Peroni  have brought together a host of creatives to celebrate Italian art and design.

On Wednesday, I went to a talk by Giovanni Alessi, a 4th generation family member of the famous Italian kitchenware company, Alessi. For me, as a kitchenware designer, that's pretty cool! Alessi are up there as one of the leaders in their field. If you've ever been in a department store, you've probably seen their work before, and if you read my blog regularly, you've definitely seen it! Giovanni took us through the history of the Alessi company and discussed the philosophies behind how and why they work. Without spending ages regurgitating his presentation, I thought I'd just highlight one or two of the interesting points:

1. Firstly, Alessi still have their factory in Italy and pride themselves on the fact that they have not succumbed to the commercial need to have a base in China. In fact, Giovanni was keen to stress that Alessi are an Italian design company rather than a commercial business. To that end, the main drive is design with the exploration of cultural and artistic ideas, rather than just profit (although it helps!).

2. Along with functionality, Giovanni presented two other key considerations when designing a new product; sociology  and poetry. The first point, sociology is fairly obvious, but the idea that a product should fulfil a poetic need is interesting. I guess what he was effectively saying is that we can buy kitchenware to make an artistic statement (rather like buying a painting), as an expression of our values and interests. So when someone buys you Alessi's Philippe Starck designed 'Juicy Salif' lemon squeezer and you realise it is a completely hopeless lemon squeeze, try to appreciate it as an artistic statement; an exploration of possibilities and stick it on your windowsill!

Dividing opinion, the 'Juicy Salif' by Philippe Starck, an iconic Alessi product.

3. Giovanni is now 31 and still classes himself as an apprentice. He was born into a family of product designers yet admitted that he was not initially driven to join the family business. This didn't surprise me, both my parents were teachers and living with them was enough to put me off the profession! I sensed it must have been hard for him to establish himself (in his own right) carrying the Alessi name and with the weight of three generations of successful product designers above him. This was evident when he timidly showed us some of the products he'd designed himself. That said, I don't think Giovanni need worry, he's clearly very talented.

Talking about what he has been designing, he was involved in the design of this ace set of products for the Alessilux range. The team looked at re-designing the aesthetic of a light bulb, to make the most of LED technology. What they came up with was a series of bespoke bulbs intended to be displayed rather than hidden behind a lamp shade. They then took this one step further and developed portable lamps. I particularly like the portable one that looks like a little alien in a spacecraft and rocks around on it's base! Great for kids and the outdoors. I've popped a few photos on my blog but you're best viewing the video to see what it's all about :-)

A selection of designs from the Alessilux collection

From the AlessiLux Portable Table Luminaire collection, an alien shaped lamp that rocks around on it's base! 

Thanks Peroni for setting up the House of Peroni and giving me the chance to chat with Giovanni. And a big thanks to Giovanni himself, he seems a thoroughly nice chap and I wish him well for the future.

Rik