Furniture Design by Alesandro Mendini
Alesandro Mendini, who should have been named Mendini the Great, was born in Milan, Italy in 1931. He is one of the leading Italian designers in furniture and architect. He was the founding member of the Free School of Individual Creativity. He has also been linked to the success of the foundation Casabella 1971-1976, Modo founder in 1977-1981 and Domus magazine in 1979-1985.He is also the principal author of Zanotta since1982. Mendini has also played a great role in the development of the Italian design.
Alesandro Mendini has been associated with the design of Italian buildings like the Alessi residence in Omegna, Italy, Arosa Casino in Switzerland and Groniger Museum in the Netherlands. He is also known for the dissemination of design theory and practice. He prefers to work on projects that display great and intense emotions. He is also very big on work that displays ritual and ancient mythology. Mendini believes that art is not a message but rather a way to express and reawaken conscience.
His designs are characterized by the combination of different cultures.
Alesandro Mendini is amongst the jury in architectural competition for young designers and a teacher at the University of Milan. He also creates graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architectures and wrote several articles and books. He was a member of Nizzoli Associates until 1970 where he was dealing with designs of building and products. He is a graduate with a degree in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1959 and has been associated with the anti-design and Radical Design movements in Italy.
Alesandro Mendini also organized the limited edition tea and coffee pizza which were commissioned from eleven leading Postmodernist architects launched in New York and Milan galleries in 1983. 1979 was the year that this great man became a part of the Studio called Alchimia. He was actually a partner with Ettore Sottsass and a lovely woman by the name of Michele De Lucchi. He has also acted as an artistic and brand identity consultant.
Alesandro Mendini is a winner of Compasso d’Oro and designer of the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Casino in Arosa, and the Forum in Omegna. Mendini is a consultant with the Philips, Swarovski, Swatch, and Bisazza. He also has an interest in neo-modern and contemporary design. He is also the artistic consultant to various manufacturers providing a direction for design and brand identity. He has also authored several books on design. He writes essays and they appear on international trade journals.
Alesandro Mendini is a member of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. He rediscovered the expressive value of decoration and has made that the foundation for the development of his pictorial designs. He uses provocative slogans such as: “sentimental robot” in his work to express his feelings. He believes that furniture is architecture and each piece is a unique object of art which is a theoretical plan.
Alesandro Mendini has organized many important cultural events like exhibitions of artistic display of his designs to the public. He recently designed the exhibition installation at the Pallazo Della Trienale from 11 April-11 May 2000 in Milan.
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