A Santa in the shape of a Minecraft figure. A storage jar in the shape of a Christmas tree. At Alessi, no object is ever just an object.
Behind that idea lies a deeper thought: why should an everyday object only be practical? A pan, a tray, a Christmas bauble. They're allowed to make you smile. They're allowed to have a character of their own. For Alessi, design is as close to art as it is to engineering.
Who is Alessi?
Giovanni Alessi came from the Italian village of Omegna, where he opened a small metal workshop in 1921. He mainly made tableware, trays and coffee pots. Expertly crafted, but at heart simply household goods.
His grandson Alberto Alessi joined the company at the end of the 1960s. Alberto had a very different view of these ordinary household items. His idea was: ‘don’t let the factory design household objects, let the best artists in the world design them’. From that moment on, Alessi has worked with external designers and, in Alberto's words, the company became a kind of dream factory. This was the beginning of the famous Alessi style.
What makes an Alessi Christmas special?
You see that same thinking in the Christmas collection. Every piece is made by hand. Every piece is unique, because the glass baubles are mouth-blown and then hand-painted. The same goes for the figurines and nativity scenes, which are made of porcelain and finished down to the smallest detail.
The Christmas collection shares the brand's philosophy: behind every bauble is a designer. Not an anonymous factory bauble, but the work of names such as Marcello Jori, Massimo Giacon and Alessandro Mendini. Each with their own style and their own little joke.
This makes every Alessi bauble a unique little work of art.
Well-known Alessi collections
La Palle Presepe (Marcello Jori)
La Palle Presepe is a collection of Christmas baubles that Marcello Jori designed for Alessi in 2009, offering a playful, artistic reinterpretation of the traditional nativity scene. Each bauble has a character of its own. Marcello Jori drew the ornaments one by one. The baubles are mouth-blown and hand-painted.
Happy Eternity Baby (Massimo Giacon & Marcello Jori)
Happy Eternity Baby is Alessi's nativity scene, but in porcelain and colour. It's a poetic, modern twist on an age-old scene.
Delight (Nika Zupanc)
Nika Zupanc puts her own spin on the familiar Christmas colours. She brings the traditional Christmas palette back in a trendy, eclectic style.
The famous nativity scene
Alongside its baubles, Alessi has its own take on the nativity scene. You'll find it in the Happy Eternity Baby collection, designed by Massimo Giacon and Marcello Jori. What makes this nativity scene so special is that Alessi opts for porcelain and colour instead of the traditional, classic brown.
The nativity scene is full of details, such as the white grotto with a blue night sky dotted with little white stars. A turquoise Mary, a red Joseph and the baby Jesus, all three with a golden halo. Beside them, a yellow ox and a grey donkey gaze lovingly at each other. Everything is finished by hand, down to the smallest detail.
That's why Alessi is so special at Christmas too. An Alessi bauble isn't just a decoration, but a little design object that you take out of the box again every year.