Nov 13, 2013

Alessi Donates a Selection of Products to Indianapolis Museum of Art

Alessi, the renowned Italian kitchen and housewares company, has made a donation of 29 objects from the company’s catalog to the prestigious Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) in Indiana. The acquisition, which includes designs from a number of different periods throughout Alessi’s rich 90-year history, was made through a collaboration between Museo Alessi, Alberto Alessi, President of Alessi and head of Marketing Strategy, Communication and Design Management and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

The new contemporary design galleries will open on November 22, 2013, after a three-year, multi-phase renovation project. The reinstallation of the Museum’s expanded collection of modern design will span nearly 10,000 square feet and will feature more than 400 objects. Unlike most design installations, the IMA’s will focus on design after 1980—a period of immense growth and creativity. The galleries will be based on the two overarching concepts: design as industry and design as art. The new installation will be one of the largest displays of contemporary design in any North American art museum and one of the first surveys of recent trends in this dynamic field.

The IMA’s Department of Design Arts was created in 2007 and focuses on a collection of post-1945 design, representing a wide range of media, including furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, and product design from Europe, the United States, and Asia.

Over the last six years, the department has acquired more than 1,200 objects including such iconic Alessi designs as Riccardo Dalisi’s ‘90018’ Neapolitan coffee maker, Alessandro Mendini’s Anna G. corkscrew, Richard Sapper’s ‘9090’ espresso coffee maker and ‘9091’ kettle, Michael Graves’ Coffee & Tea Piazza Service and Philippe Starck’s ‘Juicy Salif’ citrus juicer, as well as newer items in the Alessi collection such as the Campana Brothers’ ‘Peneira’ baskets and Alessandro Mendini’s ‘Moka Alessi’. Additionally, rare, limited-stock items such as Marc Newson’s Gemini salt and pepper mills and Andrea Branzi’s ‘Mama-ó’ kettle made the donation list.

Alessi has had a special relationship with the Indianapolis Museum of Art since Alberto Alessi made the trip to Indiana in 2009 to speak at the museum’s European Design Symposium, paired with an exhibition entitled European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century, in which Alessi was prominently featured. The 29 recently acquired Alessi products will join the over 50,000 works already housed in the museum’s permanent collection.

“When the IMA invited me to be a part of their European Design Symposium three years ago, I knew it was the beginning of an important relationship between the museum and our Company” said Alberto Alessi.

To learn more about Alessi, please visit www.alessi.com. To learn more about the IMA, click here.

About Alessi

With a vast product line that includes everything from an iconic, whistling teakettle to a designer flyswatter, the Alessi company, founded in 1921 by Giovanni Alessi, has long been at the forefront of innovative and inspired product design. The company has created a dynasty out of not only offering products geared towards the mainstream – serving trays and everyday cutlery among them – but by also creating some of the most celebrated cult objects of our time.

For more information, please visit www.alessi.com.

About Museo Alessi

The role as a “Factory of Italian Design,” somewhere between manufacturing and art, has gradually attracted the attention of museums of applied arts and industrial design from all over the world, and there have been many exhibitions of Alessi work. Thanks to Alessi’s constant experimentation over the years, the company has produced a vast and fascinating body of prototypes, which, together with its historical output and countless objects collected over the decades from all over the globe, form a valuable cross-section of the history of design field and aims.

The Museo Alessi, opened in spring 1998, has been built to house all the objects, designs, images and documents of all types regarding the history of Alessi and, more generally, the history of household articles. The museum has a double function. It is destined to reinforce Alessi metaproject outlook and production policy (through the support of historical authorities), as well as provide a more direct and comprehensive channel for communicating with the museums Alessi has been working with for some time.

Media Contact for Alessi North America:

Emily Levin, bde

212-353-1383

emily@bdeonline.biz

About the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Encompassing 152 acres of gardens and grounds, the Indianapolis Museum of Art is among the 10 oldest and 10 largest encyclopedic art museums in the United States and features significant collections of African, American, Asian, European, contemporary art and design arts. The IMA offers visitors an expansive view of arts and culture through its collection that spans 5,000 years of history from across the world’s continents. The collections include paintings, sculpture, furniture and design objects, prints, drawings and photographs, as well as textiles and costumes.

Additionally, art, design, and nature are featured at The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres and Oldfields–Lilly House and Gardens, a historic Country Place Era estate and National Historic Landmark on the IMA grounds. In 2013, the IMA celebrates the Oldfields centennial with a year of commemorative programs. Beyond the Indianapolis campus, in May 2011 the IMA opened to the public Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana. One of the country’s most highly regarded examples of mid-century Modernist residences, the Miller House was designed by Eero Saarinen, with interiors by Alexander Girard, and landscape design by Dan Kiley.

Media Contact for the Indianapolis Museum of Art:

Candace Gwaltney

317-923-1331

CGwaltney@imamuseum.org