The Centro Studi Alessi (CSA) opened in Milan in 1990 with the dual mission of 1) studying the 'object' at the theoretical level and writing about it, the results of which were subsequently collected and published by Alessi, and 2) coordinating the work of the young designers to whom the company was opening its doors just around that time.

Laura Polinoro, head of the CSA throughout the '90s, brought to Alessi the semiological intuition and training she'd acquired from Eco and Fabbri. With Laura, Alessi introduced disciplines until that point entirely foreign to its operations, such as anthropology and semiotics, and began the difficult process of extricating itself from the rhetorical swamp in which certain schools of Italian design had become accustomed to wallowing. The design management activities of the CSA were effectuated largely through design seminars, whether with students and architecture faculties or groups of specially selected designers. The workshop approach, which was introduced to Alessi by Laura, eventually expanded to include Alberto Alessi himself and other design managers, becoming the company's main methodology for working with young designers. In barely a decade we staged workshops all over the world: Argentina, England, Japan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Australia, USA, France, Germany, Finland, Austria, Korea, the Aegean Islands... The products born of Laura's efforts are identified with the acronym “CSA”, placed next to the name of the designer.

Since 1998 the CSA no longer exists as a physical entity, its identity having transmogrified into a freer, more virtual realm of design research and contact with the world of emerging international design, run by Laura Polinaro as an independent consultant. In the opening years of the new millennium Laura set up a network of residential workshops that take place largely in Italy, and some of the resulting projects have gone into production with the acronym “LPWK” next to the name of the designer.

(Alberto Alessi, May 2006)

www.laurapolinoro.com