Alessi Amj13 5 Asinello Christmas Ornament

The Designer

Marcello Jori

Marcello Jori was born in Merano on 12 December 1951. He currently lives and works in Bologna. Having obtained his degree from DAMS (Bologna), in 1977 Jori embarked on his career as an artist, soon exhibiting in national and foreign galleries and museums. In the mid-seventies, he reinterprets in a series of photographic works a number of classical masterpieces in a modern key. In 1979, Jori painted himself on top of a ladder painting the fall of the angel, in contact with the heavens, which marked a turning point in his artistic career. This painting displays a new expressive energy that featured in his works over the entire following decade. These were the years of the "Scritture" (Inscriptions), these words were then caged in multicoloured "Teatrini" (Theatres), extravagant examples of architecture in movement that were the forerunners of the following "Cristalli" (Crystals) and "Gioie" (Jewels) series, enchanted and kaleidoscopic geometric patterns.

Alessigraphy: the geography of Alessi production

Since the Company's Foundation in 1921 the Majority of Alessi Products have Been Manufactured through the Cold Working of Metals, a Tradition that is Kept Alive Today by the Skilled Workers at the Crusinallo Plant in Omegna.

Over time, Alessi also began to work with many other materials, such as porcelain, glass, wood, and plastic. A specific production method was developed for each one. Even when production takes place outside the Crusinallo plant, Alessi’s guidelines ensure the company’s original production quality standards, continuing to reconcile industrial technological complexity with an artisanal eye for detail.

The objects produced from the different materials are manufactured in various production plants across the world. They remain original Alessi objects in that they are conceived with the same design excellence and produced with the same attention to quality that sets the company’s products apart.