Alberto Alessi keynote speaker

Alberto Alessi was born in 1946, in northern Italy - the touristic town of Arona. His father, Carlo, was a designer and entrepreneur; his mother, a housewife. Her family name is Bialetti, who are the most important Italian producers of coffee machines.

Alberto is the third generation in his family to run the company, established by his grandfather – specialist in steel products, in 1921. In 1970 Alessi took over family business as the president and has radically extended the product offering. Since then the company has become known for its quirky gadgets and kitchenware, often developed in partnership with designers including Philippe Starck, Michael Graves and Frank Gehry.

Alberto Alessi used his entrepreneurial flair to successfully explored the frontiers of design and technology. He had repositioned the company as a design leader and as a designer received the MBA Design Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Brooklyn Museum, New York.

Mr. Alessi risk management skills are sought by prominent technology and design organizations around the world. Holding a number of honorary titles from various academic institutions he embraces the borderline between traditional and avant-garde thinking leading to increased potential in design industry.

He received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University from the University of Central England, Birmingham, in 2001; was named a Master at the Atelier de Formation en Haute Pâtisserie de l’Ecole supérieure de cuisine française (ESCF Ferrandi) in Paris, in 2008; was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Lincoln University (UK) in 2010; and was the recipient of Collab’s Design Excellence Award for 2010 at the Philadelphia Museum of Arts.

Alberto Alessi curated the exhibition “The Dream Factories: People, Ideas, and Paradoxes of Italian Design Factories” at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. Opened on April 6, 2011, and on view through February 26, 2012, the exhibition illustrates Alessi’s vision and analysis of what he refers to as the “factories of Italian design.” According to Alessi, these factories have developed a series of highly specific artistic intermediation practices, which are among the best expressions of international contemporary product design on the one hand, and of the market, on the other.