Mendini: the architect-designer who loves Harlequin and Proust

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Alessandro Mendini armchair “Proust”, for Alchimia

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“Beautiful” by Beatrice Brandini

If there is an item that I would like to own more than a piece of jewelry or anything else “important” is (together with the library of Sottsass, the “Carlton”), the Proust chair by Mendini. Because there are things that you see for the first time and you just can not forget, are innovative, original, funny, interesting, in a word PERFECT, just like that chair.

3 Alessandro Mendini, Gueriero di vetro, 2001

Alessandro Mendini “Warrior glass”, 2001 for Venini

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Alessandro Mendini “Anna Gong” and “Anna G”, folding cake stand and corkscrew for Alessi

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Vases by Alessandro Mendini

Alessandro Mendini is a great innovator of Italian design, his creations are often objects of museum exhibitions. He was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France, he received an honorary degree from the Politecnico di Milano and the honor of the Architectural League of New York, has twice won the Golden Compass, perhaps the most coveted and authoritative prize, (and old, established in 1954), in view of the design world. An Italian figure that makes us proud.

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Alessandro Mendini for Bisazza Foundation

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Alessandro Mendini “Alessandro M.”, corkscrews for Alessi

Mendini was involved in many cultural events that have made the last three decades of the twentieth century very important, from a creative point of view, but also theoretical and critical. He founded and adhered to cultural movements such as Global Tools and Alchemy; he founded the design magazines Mode and Ollo, directed Casabella and Domus.

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Armchair “Proust” by Alessandro Mendini

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Paradise Tower in Hiroshima, Japan. Designed by Alessandro Mendini

He has worked with Alessi, Bisazza, Driade, Swatch, Venini, Zanotta …. each time creating something new and different, but always true to his playful poetry. Remember also the construction of many public buildings in Italy and in the world, of all the Paradise Tower in Hiroshima in Japan, the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, the Ceramics Museum in Korea, the station and metro in Naples  ….

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Groninger Museum, Netherlands. Designed by Alessandro Mendini

He has just received the Cauda Pavonis (peacock’s tail) in its first edition: the first award dedicated to “meridians of color”: Scholars and artists who have contributed in various fields with originality to spread the culture of color and beauty. Personally I think it’s a recognition absolutely “right” .., who could not win it if Mendini? the one who’s color, its nuances, the backgrounds …, made common objects of design icons, making our homes more beautiful but also more fun, making us smile as we open a bottle or crush a walnut.

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Alessandro Mendini “Parrot”, sommelier corkscrews for Alessi

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Alesandro Mendini “Anna Etoile”, for Alessi. The corkscrew into an art object in a limited edition.

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Alesandro Mendini “Anna Etoile”, for Alessi. The corkscrew into an art object in a limited edition.

“I like the irony, I love the game, I like to stay very far away from the rhetoric and therefore I make sure that my objects express these things, they seem like adult toys, but they have in them a mystic, a sense of ritual, an awareness of the use and behavior of a consciousness of the gestures of everyday life”. Alessandro Mendini

Some of my fashion sketches, inspired by poetry and art of Alessandro Mendini

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Design by Beatrice Brandini inspiration Mendini

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Design by Beatrice Brandini inspiration Mendini 

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Design by Beatrice Brandini inspiration Mendini

I admire you, great architect and designer Mendini, but especially thank you for giving colorful life in the everyday, making a corkscrew as a dancing doll, a tray in an impertinent face, a vase as a magic chest …

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Alessandro Mendini with some of his projects

Good life to all!

Beatrice

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