ambiente – decorate life

The finest contemporary design in different product types, styles and price brackets.

This collection presents a reclassification of all Alessi products into three different trademarks which is a decision of historical momentum for our company. Two new trademarks have been added to the renowned “ALESSI” brand, which pursues its celebrated mission as a “dream factory”.
One of these is more exclusive (“OFFICINA ALESSI”) and the other more inclusive (“A di ALESSI”).

As we all know we are living in particularly critical economic times. New forms of competition resulting from globalisation, the fall registered in consumption and the recent changes in international distribution have all contributed to create a scenario in which it is particularly hard to operate.
Our solution is to focus on Alessi strengths: a great attention to product quality, our ability to interpret our socioeconomic environment and our nature as the Engine of design which is transforming us into a unique company in terms of our ability to offer the finest contemporary design in highly different product types, styles and price brackets.

Three trademarks, one identity

We have decided to classify our products under three trademarks. To be more precise, perhaps we should call them collections rather than trademarks. In fact, these brands will not posses independent identities, but will rather reflect three different expressions of the same corporate identity. Each is a part of the Alessi identity. Each focuses on certain aspects of our company’s multiple identity and its vast portfolio.
In classical marketing terms I might say that each is aimed at different target audiences, but as far as we’re concerned, I prefer to use less categorical terms, and simply guarantee that each category sets out to offer the finest contemporary designs split by different price brackets and purchasing habits.

We wish to make it quite clear that the Alessi identity is not undergoing any change. Our strong identity and our nature of industrial research laboratory in the field of design, inheriting from great movements of the past such as the British Arts & Crafts, the Austrian Wiener Werkstaette and the German Bauhaus, are not under discussion. In particular, we remain convinced that our work must provide a social and cultural contribution to the evolution of our consumer society. We certainly do not intend to abandon our specialisation in advanced research and high-range goods. In the future most of our products will be marked by a high degree of innovation and experimentation, as we believe this is the way to develop our ability to set trends, to promote our fame and to create a culture medium aimed at developing those projects we like to call Super & popular.

However, we are convinced that we need to take a further step forward. Alessi growth during the 1990s was mostly due to an elective Alessi audience, to niches of true design lovers and socioeconomic/sociocultural audiences of the highest echelons, i.e. to the type of audience we hold so dear that seeks top quality in all aspects of life. We will continue to offer this audience our non plus ultra products.
However, our growth has also, and in some ways particularly, been due to our opening out towards a more general clientele, to whom we offer products that do not compromise on our principle of design excellence, but that are more accessible and in some ways more “popular” (in particular, the playful projects of the “Girotondo” series and the plastic items of the “Family Follows Fiction” series).

Between the ’80s and ’90s, this type of clientele, which we might define the affluent Alessiaudience, saw a significant increase in its aspirations and purchasing powers, and this acted as a strong driving force behind Alessi growth.
As a result of such reflections we came up with the idea of subdividing our existing and future production into three variations of the main brand, each following a specific mission but one that is directly attributable to Alessi global mission of design excellence and to its nature as an Engine of design:

I. The first (the “ALESSI” trademark) will continue to express the best industrial mass productions of our sector, both from the point of view of design and production quality, with a medium-high to high price positioning;

II. The second (the “OFFICINA ALESSI” trademark) will include our most sophisticated, expensive, experimental and innovative products, as well as our small-scale
and limited productions;

III. The third (the “A di ALESSI” trademark) will include our most democratic and accessible products, i.e. those of a decidedly lower price range.

The finest contemporary designs

Alessi success has always been based on its ability to reinvent itself, opening up the household and design world to changing scenarios. We are currently xperiencing just such a time, and we have decided to rise to the challenge. We shall start from our current design management skills and develop them further, to evolve the way we promote the applied arts market. We know that this will not be an easy challenge because the current stage of development of our consumer society tends to favour the lower end of the market.

We, however, have always tried to practice the subtle balance which requires the ability to move between, on the one hand, continuous growth, economic performance, sales and doing business (in other words, the share temptation which is after all a physiological part of nature and of all aspects of the entrepreneur’s role) and, on the other, an inalienable focus on cultural aspects, a striving towards the goal of top project quality: that zone which William Morris, the founder of the British Arts & Crafts movement, called Nowhere.

Alessi – The Dream Factory

Within the new catalogue classification, the “ALESSI” trademark will continue to offer top range industrial domestic products that excel in terms of design and product quality.
“ALESSI” is our central brand, in which quality will continue to be pivotal to our future development. Here, design will seek to preserve the delicate balance between expression and functionality.
Aimed at design enthusiasts open to new trends, “ALESSI” will continue to sell through the distribution channels used so far. This catalogue, whose role is to safeguard the company’s most historical inheritance, collects the greatest number of our products, around 350 projects.

Officina Alessi – Art and Poetry

“OFFICINA ALESSI”, which many will remember as our super-brand and one of the great sector innovations during the ’80s, is today enjoying a revival. Its scope has not changed: to flank the company’s industrial production with the aim of producing designs that had never actually passed the plan or prototype stage, i.e. to complete highly innovative, formal, constructive and functional research projects that are unconstrained by the limits often imposed by industrial mass production processes.

 This trademark is aimed at those people who enjoy cutting-edge and experimental design, and will be sold through a select international distribution channel. Our aim is to place at these people’s disposal the results of research projects conducted in collaboration with some of the most interesting exponents of the contemporary design world, results which will take shape as industrial or small-scale productions, or even as unique pieces, on a case by case basis.

The “OFFICINA ALESSI” trademark does not contrast but rather complements both the “ALESSI” and the new “A di ALESSI” trademarks. At present, this latest trademark boasts works by over 60 designers, thus cutting out for itself new niches in the increasingly structured and complex panorama of the contemporary market, and reiterating its mission as an advanced research laboratory operating in the field of applied design and Arts de la table.

A di Alessi – Top Design, Pop Price

Nowadays, we often hear people speak about “democratic design”, meaning a more “equitable” form of design that is more accessible to the vast mass production audience.
However, we believe this to be a weak design, without expressive heights and one that often copies more celebrated articles.

We don’t subscribe to the view that mass production audiences are vaguely “illiterate” in matters of design, and that therefore true quality is wasted on them.

Indeed, if we look back on our past history we can see that our exclusive practices have often allowed us to generate inclusive results. Our products tend, and will continue to tend, towards the highest expression of project and production quality, whatever trademark they are classified under. Top quality products are in our company’s DNA. Everything contributes to our development in this direction: from the quality of our products to our desire to preserve our metal production in Crusinallo and our passion for working with the greatest modern-day designers.

Basically, what characterises our company strategy is that strange ambivalence by virtue of which our products, while conceived in an exclusive context, created by exclusive processes and designed by the leading exponents of the international design scene, are often very popular with the vast mass production audience. We are not shocked by this. Quite the opposite. After all, we must remember that the true goal of design is not to be exclusive and accessible to a few select people, but rather to be inclusive, and to bring a little joy and beauty to as vast an audience as possible.

However, it is important to note that by definition mass production is not a true promoter of quality, it does not directly and spontaneously require the refinement of the design approach. Therefore, not pursuing quality, it often doesn’t achieve it. This should help to clarify, if we may say so, the heroism of the new “A di ALESSI” mission, which is to put to good use the experiences and skills acquired by the Alessi factory as a whole (in particular thanks to the activities of research and experimentation brought forward by the “OFFICINA ALESSI” brand) so as to offer the mass production audience the best possible product and project quality. This, however, without conforming to the dullness of other manufacturers operating in this sector. Our aim is to preserve design quality, and to focus increasingly on functional and price aspects. Super & popular: around 100 projects have been launched under this new trademark, and they may all be classified under this description. Alongside the innovations introduced below, this brand also includes some of the most popular Alessi products, such as the “Girotondo” and the “Family Follows Fiction” series, Rossi’s “La cupola” coffee maker and Morrison’s “Forkspoonknife” cutlery.

In order to reach a sufficient critical mass we’ll have to open up, in a rational manner, to distribution channels that we have rarely used so far. This we believe to be necessary, given the restructuring process that our traditional channels have been undergoing over the last few years, but must be rational because we must never disregard our privileged relations with higher-level distribution channels, which will continue to be our favoured channel, even though to a lesser extent than in previous years.

Alberto Alessi