Alessandro Mendini

Alessandro Mendini, born in Milan in 1931, directed Casabella, Modo and Domus and was a central figure of the Alchimia group. His practice refuses to settle in one discipline: objects, furniture, interiors, paintings, installations and architecture all belong to the same continuous system. He has worked with Alessi, Philips, Cartier, Swatch and Hermès, and received the Compasso d’Oro in 1979 and 1981.

With his brother Francesco he opened Atelier Mendini in 1989. The studio, some fifteen architects, graphic designers and designers in Milan, has realised the Alessi factory in Omegna, the Groninger Museum, the Byblos Art Hotel in Verona, a memorial tower in Hiroshima and a series of Naples metro stations — a project that earned the Medaglia d’oro all’architettura italiana in 2003.