Designer homeware that does more than just look good

Few, if any, names in the designer homewares market have the pull of Alessi. Trays, kettles, coffee plungers, juice squeezers and even cutlery with the Alessi name have attracted leading architects and designers to put their stamp on the Italian company’s products over the decades – Ettore Sottsass, Aldo Rossi, Philippe Starck, Michael Graves and Richard Sapper, to name a few.

Australian designers have also made their indelible mark on Alessi – such as Susan Cohn with her Cohncave bowl, designed in 1992, which features two layers of perforated metal that creates a moray effect. Any groovy architect or creative has this bowl on their dining table.

The Susan Cohn Cohncave bowl for Alessi. Credit: Leonard Joel

For Ross Madden, who established designer furniture business Aero in the mid-1970s and followed that in 1987 with R.G. Madden, a chain of stores across Australia, the name Alessi has been part of his DNA, then and now.

“R.G. Madden was one of the first designer stores to open in Australia, particularly for household items, but I was certainly the first to bring in Alessi,” says Madden, who continues to sell Alessi through the Smith Street Bazaar in Smith Street, Fitzroy.

Madden’s display case within the vintage furniture and lighting store is brimming with Alessi products from the 1970s to the early noughties. Each one includes the name of the designer, the date it was produced and the price tag – starting at less than $100 and heading north to around $500.

The Michael Graves French presser, a coffee plunger with two coffee cups, set within fine silver baskets, retails for $448, while the “Hands Around the World Tray”, selling through Madden for $139, spawned a range of products that featured figures with outstretched arms – such as a dog bowl for one’s pampered pooch.

The Alessi Juicy Salif. Credit: Leonard Joel

Other items on display include Richard Sapper’s “Todo”, a sculptural cheese and nutmeg grinder designed in 2004 for Alessi, that could easily be mistaken for an Olympic torch. Many items can still be purchased as new, while others can be bought on the secondary market through auction houses such as Leonard Joel.

Rebecca Stormont, modern design specialist at Leonard Joel, has sold a few Cohncave bowls for about $300.

“These are still very popular. They could have been designed yesterday,” says Stormont, who sees their value not only in the timeless design but also as part of the National Gallery of Victoria’s permanent collection.

Another Alessi item, the Philippe Starck’s Juicy Salif (circa 1990), is a citrus squeezer resembling a landing spaceship with its bulbous head and fine tapered legs.

“This design often comes up at our Thursday Auction Salon, where many of the prices are less than $100,” says Stormont.

While heavy Victorian silver cutlery that was once polished every second Sunday might be the “pride and joy” of a family’s heirlooms, a younger audience setting up homes is more likely to gravitate to the stainless-steel sets produced in Scandinavia or in Germany in the 1980s and ’90s.

“The Victorian silver tarnishes while the stainless steel can be put in the dishwasher and, in many instances, receives higher prices,” she says.

Nicole Durling, executive director at Craft Victoria, sees the attraction of home products by companies such as Alessi as being driven by aesthetics, but also relevant to the way we live, not just then, but today.

“It’s important to be able to live with things, use them and not just put them in a cupboard and forget about them,” says Durling.

“Some of these household items transcend time, even if they first appeared 40 years ago,” she says.

While many household appliances remain virtually worthless, many Alessi products hold or have increased in value.

“The fact that many of the Alessi designs have maintained their value, even on the secondary market, still makes them not only a pleasure to use and live with, but also a safe investment,” says Madden.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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