Alessandro Mendini

Alessandro Mendini (born 1931 in Milan) is an Italian designer and architect. Alessandro Mendini, former director of Casabella, Modo and Domus, winner of a Compasso d'Oro and designer of the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Casino in Arosa, the Forum in Omegna, he is a designer, architect and image consultant for Philips, Swarovski, Swatch, and Bisazza. He played an important part in the development of Italian design. He also worked, aside from his artistic career, for Casabella, Modo and Domus magazines. In the seventies he was one of the main personalities of the Radical design movement. In 1979 he joined the Studio Alchimia as a partner and here he worked with Ettore Sottsass and Michele De Lucchi.

As architect, he designed several buildings; for example the Alessi residence in Omegna, Italy; the theater complex "Teatrino della Bicchieraia" in the Tuscan city of Arezzo; the Forum Museum of Omegna, Italy; a memorial tower in Hiroshima, Japan; the Groningen Museum in The Netherlands; the Arosa Casino in Switzerland.

His design has always been characterized by his strong interest in mixing different cultures and different forms of expression; he creates graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architectures and wrote several articles and books; he is also renowned as an enthusiastic member of jury in architectural competition for young designers, such as the DBEW competition in South Korea or the Braun prize. He also teaches at the University of Milan. Currently he runs his own practice in Milan, the Atelier Mendini, together with his brother Francesco Mendini.