Milan, Italy
“It has always been a dream of mine to enter the world of furniture significantly,” says Alberto Alessi, who has run the company since 1970.
“Now, with the Poêle Collection and Philippe Starck, we are doing a serious trial.”
“I have been trying to make a chair with Philippe Starck for around 20 years now and, finally, we did it. I asked him if it was possible to design a chair that is manufactured like a frying pan made using the Alessi cold-press metal high-technology. As is always the case with Starck, it started with a subversion.”
Revealed in Alessi’s Milan exhibition during the Milan Design Week, Ars Metallica, Alessi’s Poêle Collection designed by Philippe Starck marks a new era for the brand, which is best known for high-quality homeware products.
The Poêle Collection comprises mall furnishings; a chair, a high stool, a low stool, and a coat stand, in which the metal element takes on a surprisingly fluid texture, enveloping the wooden elements in an unexpectedly organic way.
It is a collection capable of fitting into any environment, in the home as well as in the office or in high-end contract décor.
The Poêle Collection opens new ground by incorporating the same manufacturing processes that Alessi uses to make its stainless-steel cookware.
This cold-press metal technology has been used in the manufacturing of Alessi products since the 1950s.
“The Poêle Chair started as a serious joke, with a sketch of a pan with legs and the great idea of adapting an existing high-technology to different purposes. The seat and back are inspired by a frying pan, with legs as handles, the Poêle Chair elegantly incarnates the most beautiful symptoms of human intelligence: humor and technology. Very much like my relationship with Alberto and Alessi,” states Philippe Starck.
Project: Poêle Collection
Designer: Philippe Starck
Manufacturer: Alessi SpA
