Storia Alessi [ parte 2]

1920s and 1930s

Grandpa Giovanni was a talented sheet-metal worker. In 1921 he bought a plot of land at Omegna and founded Alessi. He started handmaking objects for the table and for the home in copper, brass and nickel silver, which were then either nickel-, chrome- or silver-plated. Grandpa was a real stickler for quality and for well-done work: the things he made quickly won acclaim for their workmanship and perfect finish.

Carlo Alessi

Design, as we understand the word today, first made its appearance with my father, Carlo. Trained as an industrial designer in Novara, he joined the company when still very young, dedicating himself to design right from the start. He was responsible for most of the objects made between the mid-thirties and 1945, the year he launched his last project, that archetype of early Italian design, called the Bombé coffee and tea sets. In the fifties he took over from Grandpa at the helm of the company, completely giving up (I have never understood why�) design.

During the war years, as the household goods market slowed down, Alessi produced stars for uniforms and mechanical parts for Savoia Marchetti aeroplanes. After the war, faced with an enormous demand for brass ladles for the U.S. army, my father doubled the number of machine tools, expanded the company and started mass-production. As he had realized so early, stainless steel was set to conquer the space vacated by chromed metals and silver-plated alloys.