The Keeper Of The Flame

Legendary Italian designer Alessandro Mendini influences artists with challenging work

Although perhaps not as well known as contemporaries such as Michele de Lucchi and Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect, designer, artist and journalist Alessandro Mendini is rightly regarded as an important champion of the Italian design scene since the 1970s.
When the Italian design phenomenon of the 1950s and 60s inevitably lost some steam some 30 years ago, the Milan-born and educated Mendini lent his hand to support the domestic design industry through a compelling presence. As editor of the well-respected design journal Casabella, for example, Mendini in 1974 staged a 60s style art "happening" in which he burned two of his own chair designs outside his magazine's offices to graphically illustrate the blurring of boundaries between art and design.
This appeal to the visceral was soon matched by Mendini's co-founding of the Alchimia design group, which also included de Lucchi, Sottsass and Andrea Branzi. "There is no more originality," declared Mendini and Alchimia's provocative re-designs of classics by European design legends such as Thonet and the Bauhaus school drove home the declaration.
Mendini's own Proust chair (1978) was a stark example of a watershed period for Italian design. Taking inspiration from an 18th century French Neo-Baroque chair design, Mendini combined the traditional design with a dazzling Pointillist-like pattern to suggest his post-modern theory that new forms were not possible and that decoration had supplanted design in contemporary Western society. Although never intended as an overtly commercial project, Alchimia would ultimately lay the groundwork for the 1980s Memphis movement led by Sottsass, which had a powerful industrial and graphic design influence for the whole of that decade.
After carrying on with his journalism by serving as editor of legendary design magazine Domus until 1985, Mendini gradually returned to architecture. Teaming with fellow greats Achille Castiglioni and Aldo Rossi, he designed Casa della Felicita for the Alessi family, who had made a name for themselves for their innovative manufacture of home accessories. Mendini has also produced designs for leading Italian manufacturers such as Artemide, Bisazza, Cappellini and Zanotta. In 1989, the designer and his brother Francesco established the architecture firm Studio Mendini. Their collaboration has resulted in buildings such as the Forum Museum in Omegna and the Teatro della Bichieraia in Arezzo, Tuscany.
Despite Mendini's serious theoretical pursuits, the 1990s showed a lighter side to the designer. He created watches for hip Swiss manufacturer Swatch and with his brother designed Swatch shops in centres such as Milan, Venice, Barcelona, Paris and New York. Mendini outdid himself, however with his whimsical "Anna G." corkscrew design for Alessi, which was soon a best-seller and became emblematic of a "good design" ethos of the late 90s (i.e. functional and fun) that is with us still. The Anna G. design inspired more Alessi accessory designs from Mendini, including a kitchen timer, candlestick, pepper mill and grater. More than an intellectual theorist, Mendini proved he could also be a man - and designer - of the people.

Publication Date: 2003-10-26
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3279