Farewell to Alessandro Mendini, one of Italy's greatest designers. His is the famous Proust armchair

Alessandro Mendini, one of Italy’s best-known and most important designers, died today in Milan at the age of 88. Born in Milan on August 16, 1931, Mendini made a name for himself since the 1970s, when he renewed Italian design with his objects, furniture, environments, paintings, and installations. Mendini has collaborated with many major international companies, including Cartier, Philips, Hermés, Swatch, Venini, Alessi, and Bisazza, and has consulted worldwide. An honorary member of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, he has been an honorary professor at the Academic Council of Guangzhou Academy of fine Arts in China as well as a professor of design at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. His work can be found in various museums and private collections.

His iconic objects include the Proust armchair designed for Alchimia Edizioni (1976), the Anna G corkscrew for Alessi (1994) and the Amulet lamp for Ramun (2013). In 1989 he and his brother, architect Francesco, openedAtelier Mendini in Milan, designing the Fabbriche Alessi in Omegna, the new Olympic swimming pool in Trieste, the Torre dell’Orologio in Gibellina, some subway stations in Naples (Salvator Rosa, Università and Materdei) and the restoration of the Villa Comunale in Naples, the Teatro Comunale in Arezzo, the Byblos Art Hotel-Villa Amistà in Verona, and the new Trend Group offices in Vicenza. Abroad, Mendini has put his signature on the Groningen Museum in Holland, the Madsack office building in Hanover, and the Incheon Ceramics Museum in Korea.

He has received many awards: in 1979 and 1981 he was awarded the Compasso d’oro for design, is “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” in France, was honored by the Architectural League of New York, and received honorary degrees from the Milan Polytechnic and the Ecole normale supérieure de Cachan in France.

“With Alessandro Mendini,” say Cristina Tajani and Filippo Del Corno, respectively aldermen for labor and culture of the Municipality of Milan, “a master and a father of ’Made in Italy’ who made color and design culture a hallmark of Italian design goes out. The lesson of creativity brought forth by Alessandro Mendini in more than fifty years of activity unquestionably determined the history and the affirmation of Milan as the capital of design and creativity. With his playful, ironic and colorful style he anticipated many of the trends and lines of modern design, from armchairs to corkscrews to architectures declined with a pictorial language made of shapes and colors. A story that can and should be an example for the many young people who today approach the world of design and project.”

In the photo: Alessandro Mendini in 2014. Ph. Credit

Farewell to Alessandro Mendini, one of Italy's greatest designers. His is the famous Proust armchair

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