Alessi Bottle opener Yellow Plastic material. Dimensions: Ø 7 x H 24.5 cm.
The most famous pair of corkscrews from Italian design take on a new range of
colours designed in homage to the chromatic research work of their creator. Anna
G. and Alessandro M. come from the visual alphabet of Alessandro Mendini
(1931–2019), one of the main innovators of Italian design in the 1980s. These
brand-new colours (2021) are the result of a selection made from pictorial
studies painted by Mendini himself. This chromatic range reflects the specifics
of Mendini’s very personal expressive lexicon that can be found in his
architecture and design projects. These new colours give rise to a new
interpretation of the two iconic corkscrews. These never-before-seen versions by
Anna G. and Alessandro M. are intended for collectors of Alessandro
Mendini's creations and his corkscrews, as well as anyone looking for a tool
that combines function and emotion to open a good bottle of wine. A real
commercial success since its launch in 1994, the Anna G. corkscrew was born from
a childhood memory of its creator, Alessandro Mendini: At the table, it was my
grandmother who opened the bottle of wine, an action that always struck me as a
sort of ritual ballet: the head turning, the arms rising and then lowering, the
sound of the cork being pulled from the neck. Confronted with the design of this
unusual corkscrew, Alberto Alessi had no doubts about its resemblance to
designer Anna Gili, who was close to the creator. An ironic tribute to a real
woman, the smiling face of Anna G. has established itself over the years as an
essential figure, a true designer portrait. Very functional, perfectly suited to
everyday use, the Anna G. corkscrew has an expressive presence: something to
keep in view on the kitchen worktop! Alessandro Mendini: I have often
considered my design as a system of signs, sometimes simple, sometimes complex,
which tangle with one other and constantly find a new expression in the objects,
homes, furniture and spaces I design. Visual alphabets, signs, colours, images,
decorative elements, always similar but never identical, caught in a continuous,
infinite movement, on a small as well as a large scale, in both two and three
dimensions. A search for writing of a written, almost literary vision, where
alphabets converge to form true visual languages.
