Alessandro Mendini; Milanese architect and designer, he mainly deals with neo-modern and contemporary design. His research focuses on the design of furniture, environments, architecture and installations. The characteristic of his projects has as a trait d'union an eccentric taste for the combination of contrasting elements by reworking apparently antithetical cues and ideas. In collaboration with Alessi, Philips, Swarovski and Swatch, he has designed iconic pieces that have enriched the world design scene. In addition to this, for the Cappellini catalog, Mendini created the Proust armchair and its variant with renewed upholstery, Proust Geometrica. In 1979 and 1981 he won the Compasso d'Oro for design, he also received the honor of the Architectural League of New York and the Laurea Honoris Causa at the Milan Polytechnic and at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, in France.

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.