Alessandro Mendini was born in Milan in 1931. Through his work as an architect, designer, journalist, theorist and publisher, Mendini helped establish the Italian design sensibility on a global scale with a particular focus on neo-modern, avant-garde design as well as the crossover between art, design and architecture.
Mendini’s influential work spanned the arenas of graphics, furniture, interiors, architecture, stage design, writing and painting. He graduated from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1959, and he began his career at the studio of artist-designer Marcello Nizzoli. He went on to become the publisher of the popular magazines Casabella (1970–76), Modo and Domus (each 1979–85).
In 1979, Mendini joined Ettore Sottsass and Michele de Lucchi as a partner at Studio Alchimia, a harbinger of the Memphis Group before he cofounded Domus Academy in 1982. In 1989, he and his brother Francesco established their architectural practice, Atelier Mendini, in Milan, where he worked until his death in February 2019. In recognition of his outstanding body of work, Mendini was awarded the Compasso d’Oro twice, in 1979 and 1981. He was also honored by the Architectural League of New York, made Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in France, and, in 2014, he was awarded the European Prize for Architecture.
Mendini’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among others.
Find vintage Alessandro Mendini chairs, vases, table lamps and other furniture and decorative objects on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by STUDIO CADMIUM)
Alessandro Mendini, Glazed Ceramic Totem, Italy, circa 1980s
By Alessandro Mendini
Located in Madrid, MD
Totem designed by Alessandro Mendini (1931–2019), crafted in ceramic with a vibrant high-gloss glaze. The piece is composed of four independent sections, making it fully detachable a...
Porcelain
Alessandro Mendini, Glazed Ceramic Totem, Italy, circa 1980s
By Alessandro Mendini
Located in Madrid, MD
Totem designed by Alessandro Mendini (1931–2019), crafted in ceramic with a vibrant high-gloss glaze. The piece is composed of four independent sections, making it fully detachable a...
Porcelain
$3,375
H 42 in W 7 in D 3 in
Porcelain Wall Sculpture Installation, Set of Five Hand-Sculpted Ceramic Forms
By Element Clay Studio
Located in Savannah, GA
This sculptural wall installation is composed of five hand-sculpted porcelain wall sculptures exploring repetition, texture, and organic structure. Each circular form is individuall...
Ceramic, Porcelain
$2,550
H 36 in W 8.5 in D 2.5 in
Organic Textured Porcelain Botanical Wall Sculpture Trio
By Element Clay Studio
Located in Savannah, GA
This contemporary porcelain wall installation is a curated trio of hand-sculpted botanical tiles by Heather Knight, founder of Element Clay Studio, a Savannah-based studio known for ...
Ceramic, Porcelain
“Eyes That Are...” Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“Eyes that are..” Eyes that are at once too sharp and too wild. Seeing everything crystal clear makes the whole world blind. Makes me fill my head with clouds, Pretending these smoke...
Porcelain, Paint
$400
H 5.5 in W 6 in D 3 in
Your Lipstick Left a Bruise and Growing Out of My Ribcage.. Porcelain cup
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“Your lipstick left a bruise..” Your lipstick left a bruise on my wrist. I tried to wipe it away, but my pulse was still thumping. The honey on your tongue left me sticky. Sweating s...
Porcelain, Paint
$200
H 4 in W 3 in D 3 in
“And You Blink..” Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing by the artist
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“And you blink..” And you blink and we are in another moment. Fingertips pulsing pure passion into placating lust. Brushing the dust off your lips.. This cup is one of 48 that make ...
Porcelain, Paint
$200
H 5.5 in W 3 in D 3 in
“We had been Mountains...” Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“We had been mountains…” We had been mountains, and now a canyon cutting to the core of the Earth. Never to collide again. An end but not my end. I still hope you find the love of me...
Porcelain, Paint
$400
H 4 in W 6 in D 3 in
Why do you insist on shattering, and Eyes that are. Diptych Porcelain cup
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“Why do you insist on shattering..” Why do you insist on shattering//hovering your boiling blood over the fire? The heat rises to your heartbeat to eat thru your arteries and pour fr...
Porcelain, Paint
$200
H 5.5 in W 3 in D 3 in
“No One Ever Fed You...” Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing by the artist
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“No one ever fed you..” No one ever fed you. The taste of unanswered love. No one ever taught you. Love is not a question, not an answer. But an exclamation, requiring no response bu...
Porcelain, Paint
$200
H 5 in W 3 in D 3 in
“Carry the Song..” Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing by the artist
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“Carry the song..” Carry the song of my breath to your chest. And you will call me back. And like this we will find one another. No matter how lost we may be. I won’t give up. This ...
Porcelain, Paint
$200
H 4.5 in W 3 in D 3 in
I Remember Those Tree Porcelain Cup with Sgraffito Detailing, Unique
Located in Miami Beach, FL
This cup is one of 48 that make up the installation, “Fragments of Our Love Story.” These cups feature feminine forms that recall the Venus of Willendorf and other historical fertility objects...
Porcelain, Paint
$200
H 5.5 in W 3 in D 3 in
“Your Name Plays...” Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“Your name plays…” Your name plays like a prayer in my mind. I hear it coming out of my heart, not with longing, but with hope. You are my hope for this world and I pray your name ag...
Porcelain, Paint
“So I Lay Here...” Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing
Located in Miami Beach, FL
“So I lay here..” So I lay here curled in a home that is not my home (anymore). The sound of the memory. Tire whirring on asphalt. Echoing against the trees, becoming a hum. This cu...
Porcelain, Paint