Alessandro Mendini (16 August 1931 – 18 February 2019) was an Italian
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
and
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
. He played an important part in the development of Italian,
Postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...
, and Radical design. He also worked, aside from his artistic career, for ''
Casabella
''Casabella'' is a monthly Italian architectural and product design magazine with a focus on modern, radical design and architecture. It includes interviews with the world's most prominent architects.
History and profile
Casabella was founded in ...
'', ''Modo'' and ''
Domus
In Ancient Rome, the ''domus'' (plural ''domūs'', genitive ''domūs'' or ''domī'') was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the m ...
'' magazines.
The character of his design is marked by what was his strong interest in mixing different cultures and different forms of expression; he created graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architecture and also wrote several articles and books. He was renowned as an enthusiastic member of jury in architectural competitions for young designers. He taught at the
University of Milan
The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest uni ...
.
Mendini was born in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4  ...
. He graduated from
Politecnico di Milano
The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students.
The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design.
Founded in 186 ...
in 1959 with a degree in
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
and worked as a designer with
Marcello Nizzoli
Marcello Nizzoli (; 1887 - 1969) was an Italian artist, architect, industrial and graphic designer. He was the chief designer for Olivetti for many years and was responsible notably for the iconic Lettera 22 portable typewriters in 1950.
W ...
. He was the editor-in-chief of ''
Domus
In Ancient Rome, the ''domus'' (plural ''domūs'', genitive ''domūs'' or ''domī'') was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the m ...
'' magazine from 1979 to 1985 and changed the landscape of modern design through his quintessential works of
postmodernism, such as the Proust Armchair and the Groninger Museum. Just as works of the Renaissance period expressed human values and sensibilities, Mendini contributed to bringing into the heart of design those “values” and “sensibilities” that have been eclipsed by commercialism and functionalism. He collaborated with leading international brands including
Cartier Cartier may refer to:
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* Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player
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* Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australi ...
,
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...
,
Vacheron Constantin
Vacheron Constantin SA () is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded in 1755. Since 1996, it has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group. Vacheron Constantin is the second oldest Swiss manufacturer and one of the oldest watch ...
,
Swarovski
Swarovski (, ) is an Austrian producer of glass based in Wattens, Austria, and has existed as a family-owned business since its founding in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski.
The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal ...
,
Venini
Venini were a British artrock band, featuring members of Pulp and Ladytron, who were active between the years 1998 and 2001.
History
Guitarist and violinist Russell Senior left Pulp in 1997 and began writing and demoing songs with vocalist/lyrici ...
, and
Supreme
Supreme may refer to:
Entertainment
* Supreme (character), a comic book superhero
* ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film
* Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer
* "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams
* The Supremes, Motown ...
.
From 1989 up until his death in Milan in 2019 he ran his own practice in Milan, the
Atelier Mendini
Atelier Mendini is a design and architecture studio based in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1989 by two architect brothers Alessandro and Francesco Mendini. The Atelier consists of various design professionals: including architects, graphic desig ...
, together with his younger brother
Francesco Mendini (b. 1939).
Career

In the 1970s Mendini was one of the main personalities of the
Radical design movement. He became one of the founding members of the "Global Tools" collective, which was set up in 1973. In 1978 he joined the
Studio Alchimia Studio Alchimia was a post- radical avant-garde group founded in Milan in 1976 by Alessandro Guerriero and his sister Adriana with the stated mission of "materializing a non-existent thing into being."
History
Studio Alchimia was an interdiscipli ...
as a partner and there he worked with
Ettore Sottsass
Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...
and
Michele De Lucchi
Michele de Lucchi (born 8 November 1951) is an Italian architect and designer.
Biography
De Lucchi was born in 1951 in Ferrara and graduated in architecture from Florence. During the period of radical and experimental architecture he was a ...
. Mendini created a Proust chair that combines existing designs and abstract forms with a new concept of Re-Design. This chair proves that his experimental attempts are possible not only by experiment but also by realistic design logic. In 1982 he co-founded
Domus Academy
Domus Academy is a private school of design in Milan, Italy. It offers post-graduate and professional courses in fashion, industrial design, and design management. It is not listed by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ri ...
, a private postgraduate design school in Milan.
As an architect, he designed several buildings; for example the
Alessi residence in
Omegna
Omegna (, , ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Verbania at the northernmost point of Lago d’Orta and traversed by ...
, Italy; the theater complex "Teatrino della Bicchieraia" in the Tuscan city of
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation o ...
; the Forum Museum of Omegna, a memorial tower in
Hiroshima, Japan; the
Groninger Museum
The Groninger Museum () is an art museum in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. The museum exhibits modern and contemporary art of local, national, and international artists.
The museum opened in 1874. The current post-modernist building c ...
in The Netherlands and the
Arosa
, neighboring_municipalities= Alvaneu, Davos, Langwies, Lantsch/Lenz, Molinis, Peist, Schmitten, Tschiertschen, Vaz/Obervaz, Wiesen
, twintowns = Fukumitsu (Japan)
Arosa is a town and a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton ...
Casino in Switzerland. Especially, The Groninger Museum is considered one of the most amazing postmodern buildings of the late 20th century, and was also selected as one of the “1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die.”
His work in product design was influential in the sense that it pushed the boundaries of what products could be. A notable example is his Lassú chair from 1974, a chair built on top of a pyramid structure, which forgoes conventional notions of function. Mendini was addressing the domestic object as a conduit for spirituality, an idea reinforced by his ritualised burning of the chair, photographed for placement on the cover of ''
Casabella
''Casabella'' is a monthly Italian architectural and product design magazine with a focus on modern, radical design and architecture. It includes interviews with the world's most prominent architects.
History and profile
Casabella was founded in ...
'' in 1975.
As designer, the historical value of the RAMUN amuleto lamp designed in 2010 is the ring shape that accentuates the strengths of LED, which enhances lighting uniformity. The use of a transparent material flaunts the mechanism of the lamp. A mix of various colors in the minimalist structure, consisting of circles and straight lines without any spring or wire, inspires human sensibility. Thanks to its beautiful design and superior performance, the lamp is permanently displayed at the Moderne der Pinakothek in
Munich, Germany
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
, The
Chicago Athenaeum
The Chicago Athenaeum is a private museum of architecture and design, based in Galena, Illinois. The museum focuses on the art of design in all areas of the discipline: architecture, industrial and product design, graphics, landscape architecture, ...
Museum of Architecture and Design, the
Groninger Museum
The Groninger Museum () is an art museum in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. The museum exhibits modern and contemporary art of local, national, and international artists.
The museum opened in 1874. The current post-modernist building c ...
in Netherlands, the
Design Museum Denmark
The Designmuseum Denmark () is a museum in Copenhagen for Danish and international design and crafts. It features works of famous Danish designers like Arne Jacobsen, Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint, who was one of the two architects who remodeled ...
, DDP in Korea and the Tsinghua University Art Museum in China.
"Even if you've never heard of Alessandro Mendini, you're bound to have been affected by his work. That's because our lives would be different without him."
- Alice Rawsthorn - Director, London Design Museum.
"Alessandro Mendini is one of the rare, most iconic architects and architectural minds in the history of art and architecture and clearly within the profound ranks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Palladio, Alberti, and Ledoux. His philosophic thinking is more than original. He has pushed concept beyond the perimeters of the inventive, relentlessly searching, in a most non-compromising way, for the most essential design idea. And the results center on the most visionary and far-reaching of our times. In an era where architectural ideas are copied and duplicated worldwide faster than 'viral', Mendini and his works remain singular, prophetic, and original with the unique finger print of nothing less than a genius architect."
- Christian Narkiewicz-Laine - Museum President of the Chicago Athenaeum.
Awards
Alessandro Mendini was awarded several international prizes, including the
Compasso d'Oro in 1979,1981 and in 2014. In 2011, he was awarded with the title Doctor Honoris Causa of the Ecole normale supérieure de Cachan. In 2014, he was awarded with The
European Prize for Architecture
The European Prize for Architecture is an architecture prize awarded annually by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture. It was established by Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, t ...
by The
Chicago Athenaeum
The Chicago Athenaeum is a private museum of architecture and design, based in Galena, Illinois. The museum focuses on the art of design in all areas of the discipline: architecture, industrial and product design, graphics, landscape architecture, ...
and The
European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
. He held an honorary title from the
Architectural League of New York
The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines".
The league dates from 1881, when Cass Gilbert organized meetings at the Salmagundi Club for ...
as well as the title of ''Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres'' from the French Republic.
He was awarded A&W Designer of the Year--considered the "Oscars of Design"--in 2017.
References
Further reading
*
''Alessandro Mendini - Museo di Omegna'', in "Area" n. 51, July/Aug. 1999, pp. 126–12
Online version
External links
Atelier Mendini website*
Ramun.com - Mendini's amuleto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendini, Alessandro
1931 births
2019 deaths
20th-century Italian architects
Architects from Milan
Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Italian designers
Italian furniture designers
Casabella editors
21st-century Italian architects
Postmodern architects
Compasso d'Oro Award recipients
Domus (magazine) editors