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All around the clock

Who needs a clock when there are other more commonly used objects? Convinced of the ongoing need for decorative objects, Alessi asked 5 designers to conceive one. #MDW2016

Alessi arrived at Design Week 2016 with a collection of wall clocks by five designers, some “regulars” in the company catalogue, one relatively new one and two working with the Omegna company for the first time.

Alessi Showroom, Milano — Alessi Showroom, Milan

The familiar names, “regulars” in the company catalogue are Giulio Iacchetti and Mario Trimarchi. One worked on an original corner positioning for the Ora In and Ora Out clocks; the other created La Stanza dello Scirocco, a series of objects inspired by an abstract, still and magical place of his childhood. With her Infinity Clock, the young Australian designer based in in London Abi Alice has translated time measurement into regular and continuous geometries that produce infinite movement; her Dotty Clock was instead inspired by old measuring systems. The designers at their first experience with Alessi are Daniel Libeskind, who saw time is the red labyrinth of Time Maze, and Flemish duo Studio Job, who with Comtoise revisit the comptoise pendulum of the 18th century.

During the just ended Design Week, we spoke to Alberto Alessi about the launch of this new collection.

Domus: How does the wall-clock type fit into the Alessi catalogue?
Alberto Alessi: Really, I should answer the question: what use is a clock. You could say there is no need for one to measure time anymore today because other means are far more commonly used now than clocks but wall clocks continue to exist and this is a great mystery. It is probably linked – and this is the common denominator with the rest of the Alessi business – to what might be described as the decorative component of objects. We need certain objects to help us inject a little fantasy into the home, a bit of our imagination or a bit of the designer’s imagination that becomes out own. Just like a coffeepot, a kettle or a corkscrew, it is the same with a clock. I must add – maybe because I only produce these and not cell phones which provide countless functions – that reading the time on these objects seems more magical and a ritual. It is more meaningful.

Domus: What did you ask of the designers?
Alberto Alessi: As usual, we asked them to express their fantasy in the Alessi context, which is a multilingual context in the sense that designers express themselves in very different languages. The fact that it is this particular five is the result of a selection we made at the start of search, designers who are currently close to Alessi. So, some of the designers are Alessi regulars such as Iacchetti and Mario Trimarchi; there is one relatively new designer, Abi Alice; and two designers, Studio Job and Daniel Libeskind, are making their debut in the Alessi catalogue.

Domus: How recognisable must the Alessi brand be in such a project and how much space can you allocate to the designer’s personality?
Alberto Alessi: This is not a great problem in the case of Italian design factories, of which Alessi is an example and that are an industrial model in their own right, totally different from factories with mass productions. Italian design factories are research laboratories working in the field of design – which used to be called applied arts – so we must, by definition, give as much room as possible to the identity of the designers we work with. Our strong point, what enables us to exist and expand worldwide is the fact that no other place has an industrial culture that allows designers to, let us also say freely, express their identity. This does not mean there is not a corporate identity but, precisely because we are research laboratories, it is in our nature to allow the designers who work with us freedom of expression. In my – oh dear – 50+ years in the business I have never seen it as a problem.