Author(s): Alessandro Mendini

Design

Published on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, this catalogue gives an overview of the 40-year career of the provocative Italian designer and architect Alessandro Mendini, encompassing objects, furniture, interior decorations, paintings, installations and works of architecture. Mendini's iconic 1978 "Proust Armchair," an eighteenth-century style armchair embellished with Pointillist flecks of contrasting colors, celebrates the potential of high kitsch and is now considered a crucial precursor to postmodern furniture. Known for design collaborations with companies such as Alessi, Philips, Swarovski and Swatch, Mendini has made the use of exuberant color one of his signature extravagances. In Mendini's world, bright chips, blocks and whorls of color play across furniture, wristwatches, "objets d'art" and even entire buildings. The work of this pioneering designer continues into the present day; his Atelier Mendini has been at work since 2010 on a redesign of the Naples subway.