ALESSI, the renowned Italian kitchen and housewares company, has been honored at the
Good Design Awards 2012 for
‘Ape’ Aperitif Set by
Giulio Iacchetti;
‘Floating Earth’ Tray by
Ma Yan Song,
‘Ming’ Tray by
Zhang Ke from the (Un)forbidden City collection and
‘Lumičre’ table lamp with
‘Flame’ and
‘Abatjour’ LED bulbs designed by
Giovanni Alessi Anghini and Gabriele Chiave for the AlessiLux collection.
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Founded in Chicago in 1950 by architects
Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., GOOD DESIGN bestows international recognition upon the world's most prominent designers and manufacturers for advancing new, visionary, and innovative product concepts, invention and originality, and for stretching the envelope beyond what is considered ordinary product and consumer design.
Giulio Iacchetti used his creative sensibility to devise the
‘Ape’ aperitif set, having noticed a lack of well-designed items specifically for ‘nibbles’ accompanying aperitifs, an aspect of daily life so popular in Italy and many other countries. Conceived for use at home or on the table or bar counter, it is comprised of three containers of various sizes: a toothpick holder, wooden chopping board and a ‘wasteholder’, a discreet accessory that leaves no pits, seeds, or other small waste items in sight.
Both the
‘Floating Earth’ Tray and the
‘Ming’ Tray are part of Alessi’s metaproject, The
‘(Un)Forbidden City’. Curated by Hong Kong architect
Gary Chang, the (Un)Forbidden City aims at exploring the potential of Chinese design in terms of domestic objects. Alessi asked Chang to be the curator for this new project. Accepting the challenge, he invited seven well-known Chinese architects (
Chang Yung Ho, Liu Jia Kun, Ma Yan Song, Urbanus, Wang Shu, Zhang Ke and Zhang Lei) to tackle an industrial design project for the first time ever, asking each one to give their own interpretation of one of the most important of Alessi’s archetypal categories: the tray.
Alessi collaborated with
Foreverlamp to create the
AlessiLux lighting collection, a series of portable table luminaires working with specially designed LED bulbs that run on powerful rechargeable batteries that, when used at maximum wattage, last for up to five hours and at minimum wattage can last for two to three days at a time. The portable base contains a dimmer switch that can be used to adjust the light source to the desired brightness. Each design while very different aesthetically, share the modern and contemporary yet slightly playful sensibility. In the vein of evoking memories about forgotten objects,
Lumičre (Flame and Abatjour) revisit old customs with an eye toward the future.(Please note: For the Alessilux collection by Foreverlamp: ‘Flame’ and ‘Abatjour’ LED bulbs are sold in Europe while ‘Lumičre’ table lamps are available in the U.S.).
“
Alessi is honored to be recognized with four 2012 GOOD DESIGN Awards,” said
Paolo Cravedi, Managing Director of Alessi USA. "
We would like to thank the designers for such exciting and original projects and the Chicago Athenaeum for recognizing the creativity and innovative spirit of Alessi." Source: Alessi
Read more news related Alessi published at Infurma Read more news related Good Design Awards published at Infurma Visit the
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