My factory is one hundred years old.

A remarkable milestone certainly, but one that touches me only to a certain extent. What interests me more than its age is its freshness, its ability always to apply new ideas, to contribute new forms to the evolution of the domestic landscape. When grandfather Giovanni founded Alessi in 1921, after leaving the Cardini company in Omegna on the shores of Lake Orta, where he had been working as a spin former and turner, he probably did not have these immediate objectives in mind: his concern was to give his new company a sufficiently solid foundation. But my grandfather had his own precise idea of quality which foresaw a well-conceived and well-made product, and this idea has remained impressed on all of us, his descendants. So we might say that the recipe my factory will continue to apply for the next hundred years is exactly this: a well-conceived and well-made product that is well-designed by an excellent designer.

- Alberto Alessi -