Collection: Root Catalog > Default Category > Designers > Alessandro Mendini

Born in Milan in 1931, Mendini graduated in Architecture from the same city’s Polytechnic in 1959. Mendini’s long career includes stints as image consultants for such A-rated companies as Phillips, Swatch, Swarovski and Bisazza. He has also designed some of the world’s most interesting buildings including the Des Groninger Museum and the Memorial Tower in Hiroshima. [OPEN]

In the 1970s Mendini was a member of the Radical Design Movement, foregoing conventional notions of function and form. With his Lassu Chair, which was mounted on a pyramid, he was famously attempting to address the domestic object as a conduit for spirituality. He still believes that “the world is violent, and the house must be protective.”

In 1978 Mendini’s work with Italian company Magis reached fruition with the Proust Chair for which he won the Compasso d’Ora (Golden Compass) in 1979. Still available for purchase, this witty, timeless and comfortable chair can be seen in the V & A, Paris’s Pompidou and Manhattan’s MoMA.

Mendini teaches at the Politecnico Milano.[CLOSE]