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The Wonder Shops
Our "dream factory" has, in the last eighty years, produced a catalogue of objects of a richness and complexity that is
perhaps without equalin our industry: over 100 designers, more than 2,000 items, non-stop development of new projects,
taking in a range of materials which, starting with our roots in metals, has gradually expanded to include plastics,
wood, crystal, porcelain, appliances and consumer electronics.
The large number of objects, not to mention the multitude of object types and different design approaches, means that
extra special care is required in presenting them to the public. In the last few years it has become increasingly clear
that as well as the many multi-brand stores around the world, it was a good idea to create an exclusive Alessi store,
offering the best possible presentation and display of our wares. In 1997 I asked Atelier Mendini to develop a
blueprint for "an ideal Alessi store." The fundamental concept was to handle Alessi objects as if they were fairy-tale
characters, each with its own story and traits, and a desire to transmit joy and aesthetic energy. The interior design
of these stores, which we have created in a number of cities around the world, combines the excitement of fairy tales
with the effects of a underkammer, the "Wonder Chamber" popular during the Renaissance and Baroque. These display
locations have been devised to summarize the characters produced by the "dream factory," and to transmit the customer a
sense of adventure in design and the homescape. Autumn 2006 sees Alessi Flagship in Milan (corso Matteotti 9), Hamburg
(Große Elbstraße 68), Berlin (Uhladstraße 7-8), Düsseldorf (Grunstraße 15), München (Theatinerstraße 15), Stoccolma (Humlegardsgatan 20), Oslo (Skovveien 6), Helsinky (Fredrikinkatu 39), Tokyo (3-2-5 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-Ku), Osaka (1F NU Chayamachi 10-12 Kitaku), Atlanta (805 Peachtree Street), San Francisco (424 Sutter Street), Los Angeles (805 Beverly Blvd), New York (130 Green Street), Londra (Brook Street 22) and Paris (Rue de Boissy d'Anglais
31). We have kept the same display concept for the “shop in shop” points of sale we are setting up in many
of the world's finest multi-brand stores - at present there are around 250.
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