Alessi moves into furniture

Italian homeware brand Alessi has made a jump into the world of furniture, launching the Poêle Collection designed by Philippe Starck.

Unveiled in Alessi’s Milan design week exhibition, Ars Metallica, the collection includes chairs and a coat stand. Alessi president Alberto Alessi said the launch could mark a new direction for the brand, which is best known for kitchen products such as espresso makers and cutlery. “It has always been a dream of mine to enter the world of furniture significantly. Now, with the Poêle Collection and Philippe Starck, we are doing a serious trial,” said Alberto Alessi, who has run the company since 1970.

French designer Starck is famously behind one of Alessi’s most iconic products, the Juicy Salif lemon squeezer, released in the 1990s. Alessi said that the pair had been planning a furniture collaboration since the early 2000s. The centrepiece of the collection is the Poêle Chair, which features a gently curved stainless-steel seat with a mirror-polished finish, sitting over a brown-dyed beech wood frame.

Source: dezeen.com

• design
• alessi
• philippe starck
• furniture