The iconic Girotondo collection by Alessi and aphorisms by Diwergo join forces to promote inclusivity
On the occasion of International Day of People with Disabilities, Sunday, December 3, 2023, Alessi announced a collaboration with Diwergo, an L.t.d. Benefit Corporation that promotes inclusiveness in all its forms and that attributes a strong value to aphorisms as a form of communication able to overturn cliches.
Robert Venturi, the father of postmodernism, inspires Alessi’s design philosophy
“I have always been interested in the virtuous role of contamination between languages, disciplines, expressive worlds and production processes. I like elements which are hybrid rather than ‘pure,’ compromising rather than ‘clean’ […]. I am for messy vitality over obvious unity. I include the non sequitur and proclaim the duality. […] I am for richness of meaning rather than clarity of meaning; for the implicit function as well as the explicit function. I prefer ‘both-and’ to ‘either-or,’ black and white, and sometimes gray, to black or white. (Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, 1966)
The thinking of American architect Robert Venturi has greatly influenced Alessi’s cultural projects and search for languages that would pursue the difficult unity of inclusion rather than the easy unity of exclusion. This is why the collaboration with Diwergo came about very naturally; in fact, the two entities, although operating in different fields, have the same values and believe in the same principles.
“The result of this collaboration has been a project devoted to inclusion on several levels: starting from the project level, where the use of words to amplify the communicative power of the object is superimposed on the design, all the way to the social level, since the financial purpose of this project is above all to support Diwergo’s commitment to spreading an inclusive culture and way of thinking,” explains Alberto Alessi, President of Alessi.
Spreading words to promote facts
“Spreading words to promote facts”: these are the words of Antonio Giuseppe Malafarina, sole director of Diwergo, who has chosen the products of Alessi’s ‘Girotondo’ (ring a ring o’roses) family, designed by Stefano Giovannoni and Guido Venturini 30 years ago, to promote messages of inclusiveness and affordability that are laser engraved on the trays, baskets, and jars of the collection.
The products will be on sale on the official alessi.com website with the possibility of getting a personalized engraving for a small extra charge. Purchasing the personalized products on the theme of inclusion will help spread the culture and practice of inclusion, enabling those who choose them to show themselves attentive to the issue and eager to share their commitment with others.
