Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass was an Italian architect and designer. His work included furniture, jewelry, glass, lighting, home and office objects, as well as many buildings and interiors. He grew up in Turin and graduated in Architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1939. In 1947, in Milan, he founded his architecture and industrial design studio, where he began to create work using various media. In 1956, Sottsass moved to New York and began to work in George Nelson’s design studio. Back in Italy, he established major collaboration projects with Poltronova (1957) and Olivetti (1958). From the late ’60s and throughout the ’70s he collaborated with Superstudio and Archizoom Associati, within the Radical movement, until the foundation of Memphis Group in 1981, of which he was a founding member. In the mid-’80s, with Sottsass Associati, mainly an architecture studio, he also designed elaborate shops and showrooms, company identities, exhibitions, interiors, Japanese consumer electronics, and furniture of all kinds. Ettore Sottsass was presented numerous international awards, winning the ADI Compasso d’Oro in 1959. His work is on show in the permanent collections of many museums around the world such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Centre G. Pompidou in Paris, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Alessi

Alessi founded in 1921 as a Workshop for the processing of brass and nickel-silver plates, with foundry, it is recognized for the high quality of its products. In nearly a century of history it has gradually evolved to become a leading exponent of the "Factories of Italian design".
The Company is open to change and international development and also deeply rooted in the tradition and cultural background of its territory. Alessi continues to be synonymous with craft objects made with the help of machines. Today Alessi’s goal is to translate the search for the most advanced cultural, aesthetic, executive and functional quality into the industrial production series. The design product stems from the constant search for mediation between art and industry, between the "Immensity of the Creative Possible" and the needs of the market. The company’s commitment is to constantly work on a boundary line, balancing the most advanced expressions of creativity with the needs of the audience. Alessi has been called a "dream factory". Indeed, through its products it aspires to make its contribution to responding to a desire for people's  happiness, to the need for Art and Poetry common to all people.